University of Minnesota officials announced today that they have selected Roers' Construction, Inc., of Fargo, ND, to serve as the general contractor for the construction of a new student center on the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) campus. 

Roers' Construction, Inc., (RCI) has over 20 years of experience and is a financially strong company with a proven track record in construction.  Organized in 1976, RCI has special expertise in the areas of commercial construction, senior housing, schools, historic rehab, health care facilities, and churches.  The company has completed a number of recent construction projects in the Red River Valley and surrounding area.  Among them are the Time Square East and West Retail Center at 4900 and 5050 13th Avenue Southwest in Fargo; a new 36-unit apartment complex for students on the Minnesota State University--Moorhead campus; and Applebees restaurants in Fargo, Fergus Falls, and Jamestown, ND. 

"We are pleased with the proposal offered by Roers' Construction, Inc.," said UMC Chancellor Velmer S. Burton, Jr., "and we look forward to a good working relationship.  A student center is the hub of student life-a focal point of campus culture and student experiences-so this project will be instrumental in achieving our goals to best serve our student body and to build a more comprehensive university that will be attractive to students."

State funding for the UMC student center project was approved by the Minnesota Legislature as part of the University of Minnesota's 2002 legislative capital request.  The $7.8 million project will involve the demolition of the existing structure, Bede Hall, which was built in 1921 to serve as a dining hall, dormitory, and classroom building for the Northwest School of Agriculture (NWSA).  The new student center will be constructed on the same site and, at 36,000 square feet, will roughly double the floor space of the current structure.

The new facility will be a two-story, brick structure connected as it is now to the surrounding buildings.  It will house offices for student services and student organizations; meeting rooms; a multi-purpose ballroom for both student activities and outreach programs; student lounges for study, conversation and relaxation; the campus bookstore; recreational facilities; and public exhibition space.  

YHR Partners Architecture Planning of Moorhead and Stanius Johnson Architects of Duluth have developed the building plans.  Representatives from the two firms worked with UMC officials and a planning committee that included students, faculty, and staff.  According to the architects, the new facility will not attempt to replicate Bede Hall.  Instead, following UMC's campus master plan, it will integrate historically sensitive key features-such as the current building's arched windows, pitched roof, and limestone-trimmed brick exterior- into the design.  The plan is to maintain the context of the current building so the new structure fits in with the architecture of the campus as a whole.

The newly-revised student center project timeline calls for construction to begin in May 2004 with completion in the summer of 2005, which will mark the centennial anniversary of the campus.