JobSight: Target Field, Minneapolis
Not only is Minnesota limestone a popular building material in Minneapolis, but Smith notes that two downtown high-profile buildings – the Wells Fargo Center and the WCCO-TV studio complex – are done in the same stone used for the ballpark.
“I don’t know that you can pinpoint any one person who said, ‘Let’s use the Vetter Stone,’” says Smith. “It was just kind of a culmination of conversations.”
Many of those conversations occurred with officials of Mortenson Construction, a locally based firm that happens to be one of the largest builders of sports venues in the country.
“Mortenson had worked with the Twins for easily 10 years prior to the start of construction,” says Dan Mehls, Mortenson’s director of project development and the construction executive who oversaw the Target Field project. “We supported them and did their budget pricing and looked at different sites as they went to the legislature. We’ve had a long-term relationship with them.”
In much the same way, the Twins’ relationship with the project’s architect, Populous™ (formerly HOK Sport) of Kansas City, Mo., started well before the project’s final go-ahead. Mehls explains that Populous came into the mix through the owner of one of the potential sites considered for the ballpark.
“We worked with the Twins on site election and numerous engagements over the years,” says Bruce Miller, a principal with Populous. “When the funding was finally passed, we were selected for the project.”
NATURAL LOOK
Miller agrees with the Twins’ Smith about what the team wanted with the project.
“I think the two expressions that were used were ‘an iconic ballpark,’ and ‘a ballpark with a unique Minnesota feel,’” says Miller. “Those goals led to the selection of the stone that we have in the ballpark.”
There was another consideration that also played into the use of the stone: sustainability.
“I was the sustainability advocate for the project, and we have the greenest ballpark in the country,” Miller notes. “We’re LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certified, so part of our approach was to use regional materials, and the stone clearly fits that category.”
Both Mehls and Miller say the selection of Mankato, Minn.-based Vetter Stone Co. to supply the project was a joint effort.
“I think when the architects envisioned the building, they pictured it wedged into the edge of downtown between the bridges and other buildings, so they saw the ballpark as a series of cliffs around the outside edge,” says Mehls. “We were looking for a material that looked cliff-like; Vetter Stone offered a natural-face stone called Quarry Creek which is rougher than, and not as refined as, some other limestones.”