Notable Construction Projects Across North Dakota

By Andrew Weeks

Pandemic or not, the commercial construction industry has been keeping busy in North Dakota.

From Fargo to Minot, and from Grand Forks to Watford City, a number of construction projects are underway or on track for completion in the coming months.

As an essential industry, some companies are even looking forward to growing their business.

“I’m very excited to be in the construction industry,” said Mike Dunn, business development manager for Construction Engineers Inc. in Grand Forks, N.D., noting that steady business has allowed the company to continue to look to the next generation of workers. “It’s something I feel really makes a difference for our towns and cities. We’ve been trying to raise the next generation and that’s going to be a big part of our workforce.”

Some of the projects that Construction Engineers and other companies are working on in North Dakota include the following:

Innovation Academy/CTE Center – Williston, N.D.

JE Dunn Construction also is doing a project for the Williston School District No.1, which is currently slated to finish by August. The $12 million, 50,000-square-foot project involves converting the existing Hagen Pool building into a two-story Innovation Academy – basically, company Vice President Marc Mellmer said, it’ll be a multi-use and high-technology center for alternative learning environments. “It will be utilized by a broad range of grade levels throughout the district,” he said, and described it as “a very unique project in terms of constructability and district utilization alike.”

UND Projects – Grand Forks, N.D.

Heyer Engineering also is working on a couple of projects at the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks.

Currently under construction is the 154,000 square-foot Memorial Union building, according to Dave Bruns, a principal owner at the engineering firm. The old memorial building was demolished last year, he said, and the new three-story structure will likely be finished in time for fall semester 2021.

Features will include food services, including a food court, a lounge, large ballroom and stadium-style seating in the multi-purpose room.

Grand Forks Regional Water Treatment Plant – Grand Forks, N.D.

Construction Engineers is keeping busy with several projects, including its largest – the Grand Forks Regional Water Treatment Plant.

The $150 million project, which has taken four years to complete, will wrap up this summer, according to Dunn.

The treatment plant is 216,000 square feet – 23,500 cubic yards of structural concrete – and is intended to be a regional upgrade to water treatment for Grand Forks and Grand Forks County, including the Grand Forks Air Base. Dunn calls it a “legacy project that we’re really proud of.”

When completed the facility is intended to be capable of treating raw water from the Red and Red Lake Rivers, respectively, or a blend of both raw water sources. Several notable companies are involved, including architect firm JLG.

The modern-looking building will be adorned with “a lot of windows,” Bruns said.

The company also will be working on the university’s future Nistler College of Business and Public Administration building, which, Bruns said, is currently in the design phase.

“We hope to start construction this summer,” he said.

The building also will be three stories, some 110,000 square feet, mostly filled with classrooms and administration offices. A skyway will connect the building with the Chester Fritz Library.

Aldevron – Fargo, N.D.

Jason Skiple, senior structural engineer with Heyer Engineering in Fargo, N.D., said he’s been working on a project that, for him, started in June 2019 – the Aldevron in Fargo, which is building a gene therapy manufacturing campus. Basically, he said, it’s an expansion project of a biomedical facility.

“A few years ago Aldevron built the rectangular building, an office/lab, in south Fargo off 40th Avenue and west of the interstate but they outgrew it extremely quickly and so they are expanding and making a major change to the campus,” he said. He said work going on now is the north part of the facility, but there also is a south and middle part that will receive attention. Heyer Engineering serves as the structural engineer on the project.

“The construction meetings have slowed down a little (because of the pandemic), a lot of the foundation steel work has taken place on the north end,” Skiple said.

Eagle’s Landing – New Town, Minot, N.D.

The Eagle’s Landing C-Store, which has seen quite a bit of wear and tear over the years, according to Paul Breiner, senior architect with Minot-based Ackerman-Estvold, is being replaced with a new 11,000-square-foot building that will better accommodate customers.

The C-Store in Minot also will have a 5,000-square-foot car wash.

“The coolest feature about this is that customers can select a touchless wash or one that uses the roller brushes,” he said.

The existing building will remain standing until the new buildings are completed later this summer. There also will be three additional fuel pumps, “so they are expanding their capacity all around with this project,” he said.

The design process started about a year ago with groundbreaking in August 2019, and is expected to be finished by this August. “Phase one, which is constructing the two buildings, will be complete around the end of June, and then the tearing down of the existing buildings and the additional pumps will take an additional couple of months.”

Breiner said the store is a nice addition to the community, especially with the upgraded buildings.

“The variety of things they have going inside the C-store, it’s more than selling pop and chips,” he said. “They have a full kitchen, soft-serve ice cream area, they have an in-house coffee bar. They brought a lot of things together to make it a one-stop shop.”

Center for the Arts - Valley City, N.D.

Come this summer JE Dunn Construction in Minneapolis but which has a number of projects in North Dakota will be working on a new $25 million performing arts center at Valley City State University, according to company vice president, Marc Mellmer. Work will begin this summer on the two-story, 61,000-square-foot building that, this time, will be on the proper side of the flood walls.

“It is a replacement building for the old music hall,” Mellmer said. “Years ago when the flood wall and dyke system that runs right through Valley City was created, the existing music building, called Foss Hall, was on the wrong side of the flood wall.”

Every year the university has had to sandbag to protect it. However, an agreement was reached with the state helping to fund a replacement building. That effort finally made it through the state Legislature last year. “And this is the result of that,” Mellmer said. “They finally get to build their new building.”

The project by May 8, when Prairie Business spoke with Mellmer, was still out to bid to subcontractors, he said, and at its construction peak will have more than 100 workers on site. When completed the new building will boast multiple performance spaces, a visual arts department, and a recording studio.

He said it will take about 21 months to complete.

One thing that customers should be aware of as completion nears: the store will remain fully operational except for about a week or so during the transition from the old buildings to the new buildings.

Blu on Broadway – Minot, N.D.

EPIC Companies is building a five-story mixed-use development called Blu on Broadway in Minot. This development will have 8,800-square-foot of main floor commercial space, four levels of a total of 42 multi-family housing units that will range in price from $550 to $900. Other planned features include underground parking, outdoor recreation space, and a community video board, according to the company’s website. Its commercial side will focus office space and customer-serve businesses such as a coffee shop, spa, fast-casual dining. Scheduled completion date is sometime in 2021.

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Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota – Grand Forks, N.D.

Construction Engineers also is working to complete a remodel of the Chester Fritz Library on the University of North Dakota campus. The project is a 50,000-square-foot, four-story building that is slated for completion sometime this summer.

UND is spending $15 million for the upgrade, Dunn said.

The multi-phase project started in early 2019 and has included some “real heavy remodeling” including a new entry and staircase, which “will really open up the circulation,” he said. “It’s going to be a whole new entry off of University Avenue as well.” The reading room will look different, the main floor and basement will receive attention and a tower will be built on the quad.

“There are all kinds of varying levels of renovation going on, some of it heavy,” he said.

Trinity Health Replacement Hospital - Minot, N.D.

Trinity Health began planning a new health care campus and medical district more than twenty years ago, with the work starting in earnest in 2009 under the guidance of CEO John M. Kutch, according to Trinity spokesperson Karim Tripodina.

“We purchased land west of the Minot Family YMCA along 37th Avenue Southwest to support that strategy. As planning continued, we sought and received approval from the Ward County Board of Commissioners to issue up to $380 million in Health Care Revenue Bonds in December 2017 to start the next phase.”

The project is expected to wrap up in 2022, which will be followed by several months of workflow and equipment testing before staff and patients move into the facility – a date, that Tripodina said, has not yet been finalized.

“We are not rushing the process, but instead making certain that we have the right blocks in all the right places as we proceed.

Dunn County – Halliday, N.D.

“We are currently constructing a new county road department shop in Halliday,” Mellmer, of JE Dunn Constriction, said. “The new shop will be approximately 15,000 square feet and develop a 15-acre site.”

He said the project is the first phase of a program that will include upgrades to a recreation center/campground that is adjacent to Lake Sakakawea, another shop in Killdeer and future work for the sheriff’s office.

The campus will sit on 43 acres with an additional 32 acres directly south for future growth and, once finished, will total 790,000 square feet. This includes a 594,000-square-foot hospital facility and an attached 196,000-square-foot medical office building.

Mellmer of JE Dunn said construction operations are starting to ramp up and should be in full swing by mid-summer. The goal is to enclose the exterior of the building and continue with sitework throughout the summer and move inside for the winter.

New England School District – New England, N.D.

New England Public School in New England, N.D., will be 32,000 square-feet larger than the existing 50,000-squarefoot building when an expansion project is complete sometime over the next year or so.

The project by JE Dunn currently is in the pre-construction and pre-planning phase, Mellmer said. The expansion will include classrooms, commons area, cafeteria, band and locker rooms, kitchen and a multi-use gymnasium.

Groundbreaking will take place this fall and construction is expected to take about 11 months to complete.

Fox Hills Elementary School – Watford City, N.D.

Last year Construction Engineers started new construction of a 600-student capacity elementary school, called Fox Hills, in Watford City. The 80,000 square-foot building will be two stories that sits on 30 acres.

The school, which costs $37 million to build, will be open to students by September, Dunn said. The company serves as the prime construction manager on the job.

“What’s really cool is that the learning commons is set up adjacent to classrooms and allows for group learning,” he said.

The facility also includes a modern media center, and modern features in the special education rooms, music and band rooms. And because it sits adjacent to the high school it will incorporate designs that bring “a lot of continuity” to the site.

He said: “It’s a very comprehensive school facility for 600 students.”

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