Click on the link to read the article from the Pioneer Press

Delays threaten ballpark's opening

Land price dispute holding up site prep

BY EMILY GURNON
Pioneer Press

If a land deal for the new Minnesota Twins ballpark isn't inked soon, the timing of the stadium's construction could be in jeopardy, members of the Minnesota Ballpark Authority board were told Friday.

Giving up on the downtown Minneapolis site near Target Center and finding another location would make it "very, very unlikely" that a stadium could open by 2010, an official told the board.

"We are certainly approaching a critical time frame for advertising and awarding the first and subsequent bid packages" for the construction work, said ballpark project manager Ed Hunter.

The biggest concern is the first bid package, said Dan Mehls, construction executive with M.A. Mortenson Co., the construction manager. It was scheduled to go out Wednesday but will be delayed because the county and landowners disagree on a land price.

The initial site work consists of moving about 200,000 cubic yards of dirt and other material at the 10-acre site in downtown Minneapolis so that pile driving can start in August, Mehls said.

Some of the dirt contains mercury, hydrocarbons and other hazardous materials and must be trucked to a special disposal site, but some of it can remain, Hunter said. The site preparation was scheduled to start in mid-March. If it's delayed by a month, that could be a problem, Mehls said.

"If we have to do four months of work in three months, that might seriously impact the August start date," he said.

It also could raise the price tag on the project.

If the initial work is delayed by a week, Mehls estimated the price would go up by "a few thousand." If delays stretch to a month, "tens of thousands," he said.

That would come out of the $90 million infrastructure spending the state Legislature has approved.

A request for bids on the second phase of work, the pile driving, is scheduled to go out June 4.

Asked how long that could be delayed, Mehls said, "June 5? June 6? This is very tight."

If the county and the land owners cannot make a deal on the site, a Rapid Park lot west of the Target Center, it is doubtful a new ballpark could open at another location by 2010, Hunter said.

But "we're betting on this site until somebody tells us otherwise," he said.

County officials said last week that the $522 million project would not be built if the owners of the land, about 150 investors in three groups, did not agree to negotiate on the price.

The owners' representative has said they will accept the fair market value as determined by a condemnation proceeding.

After the announcement of a stalemate in the negotiations, the Twins canceled a scheduled unveiling this past week of the schematic design of the ballpark.

Emily Gurnon can be reached at egurnon@pioneerpress.com or 612-338-6516.