MSFC Selects HKS, Mortenson To Lead Vikings Stadium Study

MSFC Selects HKS, Mortenson To  Study Metrodome Retrofit Plan

MOVING AHEAD: In Minneapolis, Estrada & Blake reported the MSFC "will pay about $2.5[M]" for the Metrodome study. MSFC members "favored Mortenson by a vote of 5-2," and they also voted 5-2 in favor of HKS, with two votes for Ellerbe Beckett. Funding and approval for a new Vikings stadium are "far from certain, but that is not stopping the [MSFC] from moving ahead with selecting companies to design and build a new facility." The MSFC hopes that "having the design and preliminary construction phase of the project done might make it easier to get" approval this coming year from legislators. Estrada & Blake noted Mortenson in the "past 20 years has built just about every major public and private professional and amateur sports facility in the Twin Cities." Mortenson Senior VP John Wood: "This is our back yard. There's a little extra pride in building things here" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 9/27). MSFC Commissioner Paul Thatcher, who opposed the selections of HKS and Mortenson, said that the "entire stadium-planning process was wrought with 'deceit, incompetence and contempt.'" Thatcher added that "even though the Vikings' Metrodome lease expires in 2011," there is "no need to rush a decision because a stadium plan is unlikely to reach the Legislature in 2009" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/26).

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