Dive Brief:
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The general contractor, architect and sports authority overseeing construction of the Minnesota Vikings’ new U.S. Bank Stadium are embroiled in a dispute over who will pay for up to $50 million worth of change orders and cost adjustments, The Star-Tribune reported this week.
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The outgoing treasurer of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority brought the potential cost overruns and the dispute — which reportedly is happening behind closed doors — to light, but the board’s executive director and chairwoman called the true number “significantly less” than the $29 million currently in their construction contingency fund.
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The treasurer said some of the change orders are related to design flaws, but the architect, Dallas-based HKS, has not made a statement about the 66,000-seat stadium’s construction challenges.
Dive Insight:
The general contractor, Minneapolis-based Mortenson, said in a written statement that it has “been in discussions with the MSFA regarding change orders on the U.S. Bank Stadium project and [is] hopeful these issues can be resolved in a timely manner as we continue to move forward.”
Still, “everybody stands to come out less well than they thought," the outgoing MSFA board member, Duane Benson, told the newspaper.
Taxpayers already are covering $500 million of the cost, and the Vikings so far are in for $572 million, the Star-Tribune reported. Although there is a contingency fund in place in case of cost overruns, Benson said that fund should not be used up before the stadium opens.
Construction on U.S. Bank stadium is about 65% complete and is expected to open during the summer of 2016.
