Thank you for your continued help in keeping the construction site for the Norman and Evangeline Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion safe for both workers and the campus community. Only authorized personnel — wearing hard hats and safety vests — are permitted access to the site. No unauthorized personnel should enter the construction site at any time.
Construction Site Work
Work expected on the construction site this week includes the following:
- Fourth-floor concrete pours. Concrete pours will begin this week on the slab that will form the roof of the third floor and the floor of the partial fourth floor on the north wing. The concrete pours will involve restricting parking along 21st Avenue South between South 7th and South 8th streets to allow for staging of concrete trucks in the area to enable a consistent concrete supply for each pour. Watch for Amail and signage for parking restrictions on campus.
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Learning Commons facing the staircase. The elevators are behind the two-story wood wall. Three-story lobby columns. This week, crews will begin concrete pours of the three-story, round concrete columns in the main lobby of the building. There are six of these columns, and they will be poured in sections, beginning at the first-story level and working upward. The drawing to the right shows four of these round columns in the lobby of the Center.
- Second-story formwork on the west wing. Crews will begin work this week on the concrete formwork for the second floor of the west wing. The west wing will be three stories high. Concrete pours will begin on this wing after the fourth-floor concrete pours on the north wing are complete.
- Installation work in the basement. Installation of electrical conduit, piping for wastewater and other plumbing, and concrete block is underway in the basement. Metal stud framing for interior walls will also start this week.
- Road repair on South 6th Street and 21st Avenue South. Asphalt patching will be done along South 6th Street and 21st Avenue South by City of Minneapolis crews later this fall. The street patching is the final activity to be completed in that area following the utility work done this summer.
- Work west of Oren Gateway Center. Concrete work and installation of screen fencing are anticipated to be completed on the west side of Oren Gateway this fall, following the utility work completed in that area this summer.
- Storm sewer work. Storm sewer work is in progress on the construction site. No impact outside the site is anticipated.
Tree and Landscaping Update
As President Paul Pribbenow communicated to Augsburg faculty and staff last week, the large elm tree north of Anderson Residence Hall has become diseased and will need to be removed. This tree removal is not part of the construction project. The tree was fenced off from the construction site to prevent any damage and was treated for Dutch elm disease during the summer in an attempt to stave off the disease, but the arborist has determined that the tree will not survive given its current condition. Removal of the tree is scheduled for Tuesday, September 13. Some of the wood from the tree will be preserved for use in future projects on campus.
It’s unfortunate to have lost this and other Elms on campus in recent years, so we are grateful that, as part of the Hagfors Center project, we will be planting dozens of new trees next summer. The initial Hagfors Center landscape plan includes more than 50 canopy trees and more than 30 ornamental trees on the construction site and along the bordering streets. Once the City of Minneapolis approves the landscaping plan, a diagram will be posted on this web site so that the campus and neighboring community can get a glimpse of the greenery that will be part of the project.