06/08/09 - Celebration Held for Minneapolis' First LEED Gold Project

Mayor R.T. Rybak, City Council member Gary Schiff, and other City officials, RSP Architects, Knutson Construction, and community members took part in a special ceremony on Thursday June 4 to commemorate the start of construction of the Hiawatha Maintenance Facility. This is the first City of Minneapolis project to be held to LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Gold Standards. The future site was blessed by a member of the Little Earth community and a drum ceremony was performed.

Knutson Construction Services is the General Contractor for the new 58,000 sq. ft. maintenance facility which is being built at the corner of Hiawatha Ave & 26th Street in Minneapolis. The mayor thanked and recognized RSP and Knutson for their help as Minneapolis based companies bringing LEED experience to the project. LEED is a standard to support and certify successful green building design, construction and operations and provides a nationally recognized certification system to promote integrated, whole-building design practices in the building industry.  Doug Jandro, President of Knutson said, “Knutson Construction Services is honored to work with the City of Minneapolis and RSP architects to deliver this state-of-the-art facility that has many sustainable features and will be a good neighbor to the community.”  The $9,868,000 construction project is scheduled for completion in Spring 2010.