Julia A. Sears Residence Hall

Mankato, Minnesota

Owner:

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Architect:

Bentz/Thompson/Rietow

Delivery Method:

General Contractor

Size:

150,000 sq. ft.

Completion Date:

2008

Final Cost:

$23 Million

Designed by Bentz/Thompson/Reitow, Ayers/Saint/Cross and the students of Minnesota State University, Mankato, the Julia A. Sears Residence Hall is a four story 150,275 sq. ft. building featuring semi-suite-style rooms in double and single units. The building also includes a convenience store, student lounges, and residential life spaces.

The new Residence Hall provides students with every amenity imaginable! One of the unique features is that each pair of dorm rooms will share bathroom quarters. Along with the bathrooms each floor has two lounges, one on each wing that will allow students ample space to study and relax. Each floor will have two kitchenettes that will be equipped with ranges and sinks for students to prepare their own meals. The exterior will have extensive paver walkways and rest areas as well as over 1,000 plants to create a relaxing environment.

Knutson broke ground in January of 2007 and with that it brought many challenges. The most significant issue we faced was the unusually mild winter which created a site full of thick, deep mud. The site became difficult to move equipment thus impacting our foundation work. As a result we brought in multiple yards of rock to attempt to establish a temporary construction road throughout the site. The warm weather wasn’t necessarily always a bad thing as it helped our masonry crews to gain time in our construction schedule. We just recently finished the brick and precast work on the exterior façade and amazingly we only lost two days due to the weather. The masons did a fantastic job in beating both the schedule and budgets.