2810 N Bahnson Ave | Sioux Falls, SD
Gage Brothers has been awarded the precast contract for the Monument, a new multi-purpose, indoor arena in Rapid City, S.D. The projected $130 million facility will replace the aging Barnett Arena in the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.
Gage Brothers was chosen by Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction, who is ranked by industry publication Engineering News-Record as the 16th-largest contractor in the United States. Perkins+Will, JLG Architects and Scull Construction round out the project team.
The CIC Craftsmanship Awards honor work in various trades on both commercial and residential construction projects during the 2018 calendar year. Gage Brothers received the award in the Commercial Category.
Noteworthy Craftsmanship:
Northern State University (Aberdeen, S.D.) was challenged recently by the need to create residential facilities for students arriving at college with a different set of privacy boundaries and lifestyle preferences than any generation before.
The university also wanted to lure current students back from off-campus housing because living in the core of NSU’s campus provides students with easy access to activities, facilitates deep engagement with the campus community and increases interactions with faculty and staff.
To meet the needs and expectations of the next generation of college students, NSU has introduced three new, modern residence halls on campus: Wolves Memorial Suites, which opened in fall 2017; and Great Plains West and Great Plains East, set to open this fall.
The plan is working—housing applications are up 20 percent from last spring.
As of March 1, 157 new students had applied to live at Northern this fall, according to NSU Director of Residence Life Marty Sabolo. That compares to 127 housing applications last year at the same time and 89 requests the previous year.
Sabolo said the uptick in housing requests is a direct result of NSU’s new dynamic living communities. Students are embracing these new on-campus housing options that mirror today’s diverse society and provide the foundation for academic success.
Offerings Set NSU Apart
In designing Great Plains East and West, a key ingredient was simply more space. Privacy is becoming a highly sought after amenity, with the majority of freshmen coming to campus never having shared a bedroom.
The appeal of suites reflects how living situations have changed over the years. Thirty years ago, Sabolo said, students moving to college were coming from homes with five or six family members and only two or three bedrooms. Nowadays, families often have one or two kids but four or five bedrooms. Sharing space isn’t something today’s youth are used to.
“I think it’s what today’s students really want, especially the suite-style rooms,” Sabolo added.
Similarly, they’re used to modern amenities – air-conditioning, in particular, is the number one question NSU Residence Life is asked by potential students.
That sort of feature, along with conference rooms and study rooms offered in the new halls, has essentially caught Northern up with trends shaping student housing, said Sabolo. But NSU is also including more unique offerings in Great Plains East and West – including a Papa John’s Pizza, convenience store and game-cleaning room – which set the university apart.
“I really believe that regionally, Northern is going to be the one that people are keeping up with,” Sabolo said.
The Precast Advantage
The combination of exposed precast concrete in an acid-etched and sandblasted textures and thin bricks replicates the look of stone-and-brick for Great Plains West and Great Plains East.
Five colors of brick in three different sizing were used for the twin residence halls. Two main field colors consisted of medium iron spot red modular size brick for the majority portion of building and autumn sands utility size brick with a brownish hue for courtyard portion of the buildings. A Desert Iron Spot Dark and Bordeaux Blend velour were used for banding to add horizontal lines and to create the top coursings of the modular brick, while roman size autumn sands brick with a velour texture provides accents to the utility brick panels in the courtyard.
Standard brick sizes were used to emulate conventionally laid brick, with L-shaped bricks at corners and windows openings.
The panels significantly reduced enclosure time compared to conventionally laid brick.
“The use of thin brick as a precast veneer allows the design team limitless options, from color and texture, to sizes and locations, to achieve the correct design aesthetic for each individual project,” said Steve Miller, project manager with CO-OP Architecture.
He added, “This allows us to achieve individuality from building to building while still benefiting from the ease of building erection that precast provides.”
More New Facilities
Northern’s campus has even more growth planned, and Sabolo said the new residence halls have led the way. Now that it has, he said, it’s increased anticipation of NSU’s other upcoming projects, including the Regional Science Education Center, regional sports complex, and athletic and recreation fields.
“I think students are more excited about coming to Northern,” Sabolo said.
Finance & Commerce recently honored Minnesota’s top construction projects with its tenth annual Top Projects Series.
The selected projects were celebrated with an award event on July 26, 2017 and with a daily series in the print publication.
Projects are judged for their degree of difficulty, creativity in design, innovative construction techniques, cooperation among contractors and management, and sustainability efforts.
Projects that completed in 2016 are eligible for honors. All projects are eligible, whether new construction or a major renovation in commercial or residential.
The three Gage Brothers projects named to the list are the Minnesota Senate Building, Maurices Headquarters and the Wells Fargo Downtown East Corporate Campus. In total, Gage Brothers produced 271,651 square feet of precast concrete products for the acclaimed trio.
The Minnesota Senate Building
By Todd Nelson, Finance & Commerce
Project Details
The group had just 20 months to design and build a structure that would house all 67 Minnesota senators, support public participation in the legislative process, and serve the public for a century. The building, which had to be ready for occupancy by January 2016 to accommodate that year’s legislative session, was completed on time.
Architects from St. Paul-based BWBR and Connecticut-based Pickard Chilton, a variety of engineers, and design-builder Mortenson Construction of Golden Valley met daily to collaborate on the design and assess progress.
Design-build team members gathered on the upper floor of a credit union building that Mortenson rented across the street from the project. In industry jargon, it’s called the “Big Room” concept.
The 293,000-square-foot Senate building, the first new legislative building neighboring the Minnesota Capitol since 1932, includes offices for senators and their support staff and serves as a workplace for more than 360 people. It includes a 250-seat theater-style hearing room and two 150-seat hearing rooms.
Citizens and future building occupants offered input on the design. “One of the things that made it ‘of Minnesota’ was the involvement of Minnesotans along the way,” said Stephen Harris, architect with Pickard Chilton.
The oil boom in the Bakken Region of North Dakota has turned into an electric co-op boom for Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative (MWEC), the largest power distributor in the Upper Midwest.
MWEC is one of 65 co-ops situated along the 200,000-square-mile Bakken Formation, where oil and gas exploration are driving frenzied growth in three states and two Canadian provinces.
In fact, the city of Williston (N.D.), where MWEC is located, has doubled in population since 2007.
That means huge new demand for co-op power as lines are extended to developing fields. This has driven a significant uptick in the demand for the services MWEC provides. The demand has seen MWEC nearly triple its workforce since 2010 as it hustles to serve a consistent backlog of requests for power.
A bigger workforce has caused growing pains for MWEC, as the not-for-profit, member-owned electric distribution cooperative, has outgrown its current space.
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Artist's Rendering (JLG Architects)[/caption]
To accommodate current and future growth, MWEC will redevelop their existing site to provide space for a new office building. The project will highlight and showcase the efficient use of electricity while creating a beacon for MWEC on the north side of Williston.
Gage Brothers will produce precast trim, architectural panels and insulated panels for the new four-story structure. This is just the sixth Williston building project that has been awarded to Gage Brothers since the company's founding in 1915.
Anchored with portions of Gage Brothers precast concrete walls that relate to the surrounding MWEC campus building, the large expanses of curtainwall glazing will showcase the active office, collaborative, and tenant spaces within. The project will be designed to achieve a LEED Gold rating and will place special emphasis on the electrical components of LEED, given the nature of the cooperative.
The construction manager for the build is the Williston office of FCI Constructors, Inc.
JLG Architects will design MWEC’s new energy-efficient headquarters. Gage Brothers has worked on more than a dozen building projects with JLG Architects since 2012. Recent collaborations with JLG include the Sanford Pentagon and the Sanford Fieldhouse.
This is the second expansion that MWEC has undergone in recent years to address rapid growth in North Dakota. In 2014, MWEC cut the ribbon on an 85,000-square-foot truck bay to serve
Construction of the H&D Schilling building is well underway. Located in North Dakota’s state capitol, the new mixed-use structure in named for Harvey and Diane Schilling, longtime community members and business owners in Bismarck.
The couple’s namesake building is being constructed on the corner of State Street & 43rd Avenue in Bismarck. Forty-Third Avenue is expected to be one of the city’s busiest intersections in coming years, making the corner a prime location.
The construction manager for the build is Capital City Construction, while the architect of record is DJR Architecture. Aaron Wockenfuss serves as DJR’s project manager for the Schilling Building.
The design team is led by Curt Schilling, the son and business partner of Harvey and Diane Schilling.
The build calls for more than 18,000 square feet of Gage Brothers corefloor and grey panels, along with beams and columns.
The H&D Schilling Building, featuring North Dakota's own Hebron Brick, draws its design cues from the 1930s. The first floor lobby nods to the art-deco period with smooth lines and geometric shapes in every detail from the radiators to the chandeliers. The elevator carries its passengers to the top with visible mechanics; a hallmark of quality workmanship.
This Class-A building will also feature twenty-four open-air balconies, underground heated parking and heated sidewalks.
The four-story mixed-use commercial development will have first-floor retail space while the remaining floors will remain open so they can be adapted to either office or residential space based on the highest demand. Bismarck’s overall job growth was ranked no. 14 in the Forbes 2016 “Best Small Places for Business and Careers,” which could help the additional floors fill up rather quickly and creates added optimism for the city’s future growth.
The H&D Schilling Building is job no. 35 in Bismarck for Gage Brothers. The 102-year old precast company’s foray into North Dakota’s state capitol was the library and an academic building for Bismarck State College back in 1967. Gage Brothers has also done extensive work for the University of Mary (1967, 1995).
Blending our construction experience, community passion, and partner-based mentality, Gage Brothers sets the stage for many impressive acts to follow.
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Artist's rendering of the Performing Arts Center expansion at SDSU.[/caption]
Gage Brothers has been awarded the contract to provide precast concrete for the proposed 95,025-square foot expansion project at the South Dakota State University Performing Arts Center (PAC).
The highly anticipated build, which includes a full-scale, professional caliber proscenium theatre, will be constructed on both sides of the existing facility and will add dedicated facilities to serve both the local community and SDSU’s growing arts education programs.
The project is being designed by New York City-based Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture. The architect of record is Architecture Incorporated of Sioux Falls.
Preconstruction efforts for Gage Brothers began late in 2012.
Holzman Moss Bottino is a nationally-recognized theatre design firm with an extensive portfolio of university performing arts centers, including venues at New Mexico State, Western Connecticut State, Texas A & M, George Mason and Kent State. One of the firm’s most acclaimed legacy projects was the renovation of Radio City Music Hall in 1999.
They were also the lead architect for the Minnesota Orchestra Hall (1974). Gage Brothers manufactured nine thousand square feet of stone-clad insulated panels for the renovation of the Twin Cities architectural touchstone, which was completed in 2013.
Where deer leave tracks and hawks circle overhead a frozen lake, there once was stripped earth cluttered with the machinery gouging gravel from just beneath the surface.
Just a short stroll from Lake Lorraine, construction crews put the finishing touches on a luxurious active retirement community and the new corporate headquarters for one of the nation’s fastest growing automotive classified websites. Boutique shops and retail bookend both structures, with more businesses on the way.
The transformation of Lake Lorraine’s acres into a premier lifestyle center belies their noisy, industrial history and reflects a change of fortune for the former gravel pit.
It took Warren Friessen fifteen years to acquire the 130-acre parcel now known as Lake Lorraine, located south of 26th Street, west of I-29 and east of Marion Road. The pit provided the owner of Friessen Construction with essential building materials for several commercial projects in western Sioux Falls. His first land purchase in the 1970s, a 55-acre parcel chunk, was used as the source of aggregate for the base of Interstate 29. He tapped into a big vein of sand on that was used in building projects including Target, Empire East, Billion Automotive and Sioux Falls Ford.
Friessen extracted the remaining gravel in 1987 to expand Marion Road from a two-lane rural road to a three-lane paved road.
Opportunity is the Quarry
The obvious question remained once the gravel was extracted: what to do with a giant hole that resembled Paul Bunyan’s empty bathtub?
But where others might have seen little more than a deep scar on the Earth’s skin, Friessen saw a pockmarked land of opportunity. The thought of a finished lake community had been stored in the back of his mind for years while he mined sand and gravel.
He decided to make his hole in the ground a showcase of what can be done when reclaiming industrial land.
The idea may not qualify as revolutionary, but it’s quite a leap from years gone by. Before regulators stepped in, it was common for gravel pit owners to dig the deposits and leave.
“In the old days, to just walk away from a pit wasn’t that big of a deal. But now the land value is substantial, especially once it’s redeveloped,” said Gage Brothers president Tom Kelley, who has experience carving a new use out of old quarries.
Gage Brothers produced thousands of square feet of precast for Centennial Lakes in Edina (MN), a 100-acre mixed-use development that replaced a large gravel pit in the late 1990’s.
Other former gravel pits throughout the country have been turned into golf courses, recreational areas, strawberry fields and nature preserves.
Kelley added, “I think the public is excited to see this kind of commitment from our business community. Mr. Friessen was not comfortable leaving an eyesore behind for the people of Sioux Falls, and we are happy to help him redevelop the land in a way that should have a positive impact on the community.”
The conversion of the pit into a manmade lake took close to 20 years. Almost three-quarters of a million yards of sand were hauled out of the “Terry Pit,” as it was affectionately referred to by Friessen Construction employees.
Rocker Square I is an industrial design, loft-style building that proudly displays the building materials that many try to conceal.
The design showcases neutral tones, exposed ceilings and stained concrete surfaces to give the building an unfinished feel—perfect for a college like the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City.
The six-story student apartment building was built in 2012 to accommodate rising enrollment and is owned by Technology Housing, LLC.
Instrumental in the construction of Rocker Square was Hani Shafai, President of Dream Design International, Inc. and a professional engineer/real estate developer living in Rapid City.
A Mines alumnus (’87), Shafai razed a block full of blight and quickly erected the privately-owned precast concrete structure for students.
Rocker Square I was a true alumni engagement project. Mines alumnus (’74) Jim Scull of Scull Construction was the general contractor, while Gage Brothers president Tom Kelley is a proud member of the School of Mines class of 1980.
Gage Brothers quickly manufactured more than 63,000-sq. ft. of precast concrete for a superior quality and highly efficient building at a cost that rivalled a comparable wood structure.
Rocker Square’s precast components include corefloor, beams & columns, load-bearing end walls and cladding panels.
Many colleges and universities across the country have a portfolio of aging residence halls that were constructed for the post-war generation. A place to sleep, a desk for studying, and a dining hall nearby was all that was expected when parents tearfully deposited their children at college to continue their preparation to adulthood. However, times have changed, and today’s college students have no interest in yesteryear’s modest dormitory-style living.
Institutions are asking questions about what their dormitories should be. For research-based universities like South Dakota State University, success in the dog-eat-dog fight for bright, driven students—and the research grants and tuition revenue that comes with them—depends on meeting or exceeding student expectations for on-campus housing.
Hyde Hall at Jackrabbit Grove[/caption]
In 2012, SDSU sought to create a new housing experience that was appealing to potential students and also functioned as the setting for robust intellectual and character growth of the modern college student.
South Dakota’s only land-grant institution requires undergraduates to live on campus for their first two years after high school and in a significant shift in previous design processes, SDSU administrators looked to the student body for input on the design of the new buildings.
SDSU surveyed more than 1,500 students and their collective voice requested residential halls that were affordable, lively, state-of-the-art, and green. They proposed an environment that reflected the creativity of the institution and emboldened students to make lasting connections to people and ideas.
Students also wanted living quarters that were in close proximity to the services they used most; the student union, classrooms and the wellness center.
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