Construction Manager From Out Of State

If Sioux Falls approves building an events center, it's going to have a big time company calling the shots. 
Thursday the city announced it's selected Mortenson Construction out of Minneapolis to build the $100 million dollar facility.

You probably haven't heard of them before, but chances are, you've seen their work.

Mortenson Construction has built 11 Events Centers, Arenas or Stadiums over the past 10 years. That includes Target Field where the Minnesota Twins play, TCF Bank Stadium where the Minnesota Gophers play, the Xcel Energy Center where the Minnesota Wild play and the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City.

And city officials say they were all built on time and within their budget. 

"That experience is invaluable when we're talking about different alternatives," public works director Mark Cotter said.

There were two other Sioux Falls companies in the running, which the city says still could wind up doing a lot of the work.

"Mortenson Construction has a history regardless of the project, the vast, vast, vast majority of the work, jobs created will happen within the community that they are doing the work in, in this case Sioux Falls will reap the benefits in a big, big way, " mayor Mike Huether said.

Ultimately the public will have the final say on an Events Center, but Mayor Mike Huether says if it's approved and built with public and private funds, selecting a project manager now is a big and an important step. 

"If we have the opportunity to go to the voters of Sioux Falls to vote on an Events Center, we want them to feel very confident in the process, the numbers and in the proposal and in order to do that, we didn't want to speculate anymore," Huether said.

The city says Mortenson Construction will also have a say in where the Events Center should be built in Sioux Falls.