Contract Award Totals

A strong May brought the volume of construction contract awards in the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota to $2,565,700,000, or only slightly less than the approximately $2,589,000,000 in awards totaled in the first five months of 2003, according to research compiled

Construction contract awards this May totaled $772.4 million, up a substantial 19 percent from the $650.4 million in awards reported in the same month of 2003.

A surge in road and bridge construction contract awards combined with an increase in privately financed building projects helped to bring totals in line with those of last year.

The volume of road and bridge contracts in May of 2004 reached $387.1 million, thanks in no small measure to a major Minnesota design-build contract award. The May 2004 total compares with the Tri-State volume of construction contract awards for road and bridge contracts in the same month of 2003 of $199.9 million.

Construction contract awards for major road and bridge projects this May included:

• $131.6 million for a 7.8-mile-long design-build highway reconstruction and third-lane addition project in each direction of I-494 from Minn. Hwy. 5 to I-394. General contractor — a joint venture between C.S. McCrossan, Inc., Maple Grove, Minn., and Granite Construction Company, Watsonville, Calif.

• A $19.7-million excavation, grading, culverts, and bridges project on U.S. Hwy. 169 in Hennepin County, Minn. General contractor — Ames Construction Inc., Burnsville, Minn.

• $17 million for an excavation, grading, culverts, and bridges project on U.S. Hwy. 61 in Washington County, Minn. General contractor — C.S. McCrossan, Inc., Maple Grove, Minn.

• An $11.6-million excavation, grading, highway improvement, bridges, culverts, and interchange improvement project on I-90 in Sturgis, S.D. General contractor — Heavy Constructors Inc., Rapid City.

• $9 million for an excavation, grading, highway improvement, and culverts project on Minn. Hwy. 47 in Isanti County. General contractor — Bauerly Brothers Company, Sauk Rapids, Minn.

• A $4.7-million roads, sidewalks, utilities, and curb and gutter project in Ramsey, Minn. General contractor — Gleen Rehbein Company, Blaine, Minn.

• $4.2 million for an excavation, grading, interim surfacing, and signs project on S.D. Hwy. 63 in Corson County. General contractor — Foothills Contracting, Inc., Webster, S.D.

• A $4.1-million concrete, asphalt and aggregate removal and road reconstruction project on I-94 in Eckelston and Barnes counties of North Dakota. General contractor — Penhall Company, Rogers, Minn.

• $4.1 million for a street paving and lighting project on Davern and Bayard streets in St. Paul. General contractor — Danner Inc., South St. Paul, Minn.

• A $3.6-million roads, sidewalks, curb and gutter, and utilities project in Maple Grove, Minn. General contractor — C.S. McCrossan, Inc., Maple Grove, Minn.

• $3.5 million for an excavation, grading, curb and gutter, road improvement, and utilities project in Bloomington, Minn. General contractor — Palda & Sons Inc., St. Paul.

• A $3.5-million bridges, culverts, highway improvement, sidewalks, curb and gutter, and utilities project on Blue Earth County-State-Aid Hwy. 16. General contractor — Southern Minnesota Construction Company Inc., Mankato, Minn.

• $3.4 million for a asphalt milling, wearing course, binder course, base course, and aggregate shoulders project in Pine County, Minn. General contractor — Tri-City Paving Inc, Little Falls, Minn.

• A $3.4-million road improvement, bridges and culverts project on U.S. Hwy. 212 in Glencoe and McLeod counties of Minnesota. General contractor — Duininck Brothers Inc., Prinsburg, Minn.

• $3.2 million for a roads, sidewalks, curb and gutter, and utilities project in Lamberton, Minn. General contractor — Quam Construction, Willmar, Minn.

Construction contract awards for privately financed building projects also increased in the three states this May.

The volume of contract awards for private building projects in Minnesota and the Dakotas (not including single-family residence construction) this May amounted to $194.9 million, up 41 percent from the $138.3 million in awards announced in the same month of 2003, according to Reed Construction Data (RCD), Norcross, Ga.

For the first five months of 2004, the volume of construction contract awards for privately financed building construction totaled $595.9 million, or slightly lower than the $599.4 million in awards reported in the January-through-May period of last year.

Significant private building projects announced in the Tri-State Region this May included:

• $64 million for construction of the Northstar ethanol plant in Lake Crystal, Minn. Design-builder — Broin and Associates, Sioux Falls.

• A $12-million 120-unit Holiday Inn Suites Hotel and water park project in Coleraine, Minn. General contractor — Tech Builders Inc., Fairmont, Minn.

• $12 million for a 63,150-square-foot Holiday Inn Express Hotel on Minn. Hwy. 371 in Baxter, Minn. Design-build contractor — Nor-son Inc., Baxter, Minn.

• An $11.7-million, seven-story condominium project at 616 South Third Street in Minneapolis. General contractor — McGough Construction Company Inc., St. Paul.

• $9.5 million for a 203,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter retail store in Yankton, S.D. General contractor — Henry Carlson Company, Sioux Falls.

• A $7.1-million, 90,752-square-foot, four-story office building in Bismarck. General contractor — Northwest Contracting, Bismarck.

A major decrease was noted in the volume of construction contract awards for publicly financed building construction.

May 2004 contract awards for public building construction in Minnesota and the Dakotas amounted to only $70.5 million, a 52-percent decrease from the $146.4 million in awards reported in this category in the corresponding month of the previous year.

However, construction contract awards in the Tri-State Region for publicly financed building projects in the first five months of 2004 stood at $634.4 million, an 8-percent increase when compared with the $585.2 million in awards reported in the January-through-May period of the previous year.

Significant publicly financed building projects included:

• $8.5 million for a Minnesota Valley Transit bus garage construction project in Burnsville, Minn. General contractor — Ebert Construction Inc., Loretto, Minn.

• A $4.8-million public works building project in Woodbury, Minn. General contractor — Jorgenson Construction Inc., Coon Rapids, Minn.

The volume of construction contract awards for sewer and water projects continued to disappoint with only $76.7 million in awards this May, down 36 percent from the $119.4 million in awards reported in the same month of 2003.

For the first five months of 2004 in the region, the volume of contract awards for sewer and water projects was reported to be $277.7 million, down 21 percent from the $353.3 million in awards recorded in the January-through-May period of last year.

In the miscellaneous category (which includes light and power, dams, rivers, and airport projects), the volume of construction contract awards in Minnesota and the Dakotas reached approximately $143 million in the first five months of 2004. This compares with $122.3 million in the same period of 2003.

Major miscellaneous category contract awards this May included:

• $12.3 million for a staged development project at the Runway 17-35 complex of the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) International Airport. General contractor — Progressive Contractors Inc. (PCI), St. Michael, Minn.

• An $11.1-million, 56,000-square-foot airport fire station at the MSP International Airport. General contractor — Frerich Construction Company, St. Paul.

The volume of construction contract awards in Minnesota for the first five months of 2004 was at $1.9 billion, or approximately 1-percent below totals reached in the January-through-May period of the previous year.

The total of construction awards in Minnesota this May reached $668.2 million, thanks in no small measure to the Minnesota Department of Transportation's (Mn/DOT) $131.6-million design-build contract for reconstruction of I-494 in the southwest metropolitan area. Last May, the volume of contract awards in Minnesota was reported at $522.1 million.

For the first five months of 2004, the volume of construction contract awards in North Dakota totaled $292.3 million, down 12 percent from the approximately $334 million in the January-through-May period of the previous year.

In South Dakota, the volume of contract awards for the first five months of 2004 amounted to $334.2 million, a 14-percent increase when compared to totals reached in the same period of last year.