Building Higher Education

The $288 million football stadium due to open next fall on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus signifies more than just a new era for the good old maroon and gold. It also symbolizes one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal period for the state’s construction industry. While residential and commercial construction have fallen victim to the subprime mortgage meltdown and a stagnant economy, building and renovation in the higher-education sector are going great guns.

National data on construction activity shows that higher education is second only to health care as the strongest market in 2008, says James Goblirsch, the principal heading the higher education practice for HGA Architects and Engineers in Minneapolis. “And the Midwest is one of the strongest regions for higher ed.”

Design and construction activity is vigorous throughout the state, at public and private schools alike. On the U of M’s Twin Cities campus alone, a $48 million facility for the Carlson School of Business was completed earlier this year. A $68 million biosciences building is under construction, and at least four more biomedical research facilities are planned. A $72 million science teaching and student services building is in the design phase, with construction to begin next spring. That’s all in addition to the TCF Bank Stadium.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU), with 53 campuses, entered 2008 with more than $300 million in funded projects in the design or construction phase. They range from new dormitories, classroom buildings, and athletic facilities to renovations and roof-replacement initiatives.

As for private schools, David Laird, president of the Minnesota Private College Council, says that the council’s 17 member institutions will spend approximately $100 million on capital projects in 2008—about the same as last year and down only slightly from average spending during the past five years.

That jibes with the overall assessment of Collin Barr, president of the Minnesota region for architecture and construction firm Ryan Companies. What’s happening in the higher-education world, both public and private, Barr says, is not a sudden spike in building but rather a continuation of a roughly five-year pattern of very healthy activity.

Any sector holding its own in today’s economic climate qualifies as “booming” for the construction industry. Activity in most other sectors is either down or, as with residential building, downright depressed, Barr says: “Retail construction is down significantly. Condominiums, down significantly. New office building, I’d call flat, at best.” In a construction-capacity survey by the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota, conducted late last year, 51 percent of builders and architects reported that their work volume would decrease in 2008.