Minnesota United stadium supporters tout benefits of construction

Dive Brief:

The Minnesota United professional soccer team said the future of its new $150 million, 21,500-seat stadium in St. Paul, MN, hinges on whether the state legislature gives them a property tax exemption on its proposed 12-acre site, the Pioneer Press reported.
Stadium backers have said the facility — privately funded but owned by the city — will benefit area residents through four major contracts, which include a labor peace agreement for the construction and concession operations, as well as minority hiring requirements for Mortenson Construction, the general contractor on the project.
To encourage economic development in the area, the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation has supported the project, although some boons, like the renovation of a local strip mall, still lack details and are expected to take 10 years or more to be completed.

Dive Insight:

Under the agreement, the city requires that 32% of construction workers on infrastructure projects be minority and 6% women. In addition, the development agreement for the stadium requires that Mortenson establish terms with labor organizations prior to hiring, according to the Pioneer Press. However, the agreement also states that the team will have the "right to select contractors and subcontractors, suppliers, vendors, architects and engineers." According to the Pioneer Press, 25% of the vendors, subcontractors and associated entities will be women-owned, minority-owned and small businesses.

City Finance Director Todd Hurley told the Pioneer Press that for the construction of the stadium, "the team did agree that they would work with the city to meet our business utilization goals for our vendor outreach of 25 percent." The Pioneer Press reported that, under the development agreement, Mortenson will most likely select subcontractors and vendors from state and city listings — the city’s CERT list and the Minnesota Targeted Group Business Directory.

Mortenson, also the general contractor on the Minnesota Vikings stadium currently underway, announced in October that it had surpassed its minority hiring goals on the Vikings project. Heightened attention on fair hiring practices has led to an influx in minority hiring goals for major projects. In October, SolarCity also announced it had exceeded its hiring goals for its Buffalo, NY, factory project.

Team owners announced in December that they had selected Mortenson Construction to build the 20,000-seat United stadium. Mortenson has extensive experience building sports facilities, including the Xcel Energy Center for the Minnesota Wild NHL team, the Target Center for the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA team and Target Field for the Minnesota Twins MLB team.