The state recently awarded a $5 million contract to renovate Rochester's Minnesota National Guard Armoryto a construction firm with a large local presence.
Twin Cities-based Knutson Construction , which opened its Rochester office in 1997, won the contract to remodel the facility at 1715 Marion Road SE in May.
The project will include demolition and rebuild of 30,000-square-feet of offices, gymnasium, storage areas, training rooms, locker rooms and kitchen. Other work on the agenda includes installing new electrical and mechanical systems plus improvements to the 10,000-square-foot surface parking lot and landscaping.
Marketing Manager Michele Odesays construction is scheduled to begin on Aug. 15. The contract calls for completion by July 2017.
Knutson's team will be lead by project manager Tony Joseph. The team will be working with the Minnesota National Guard Department of Military Affairs, Blumentals Architectureand Palanisami & Associates.
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Knutson has a long history in Rochester dating back to building the original IBMfacility in 1956.
Biz buzz
Almost a year since buying a former Med City mail processing center for $2.11 million , Mayo Clinicstill is working out what to do with it.
Mayo Clinic purchased the former U.S. Postal Servicefacility at 3939 Valleyhigh Drive in July 2015. The 72,662-square-foot center closed in January 2015, when mail processing was transferred to the Twin Cities.
When asked this week about its plan, the Mayo Clinic was pretty much the same as when it bought the building.
"No decisions have been made regarding the use of space at 3939 Valleyhigh Drive NW," wrote Kelley Lucksteinof Mayo Clinic Public Affairs on Friday in response to the query about the building.
The 19-year-old building could be adapted for a variety of purposes, such as an industrial laundry , a distribution center or light manufacturing. The center is described as "constructed of pre-stressed concrete and steel frames for high volume load distribution and contains a total of 23 dock doors; 10 overhead doors, 12 semi-truck docks and one grade door."
