Mortenson Construction remains up in economic downturn - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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As its revenue grew from $1.16 billion to $2.843 billion in 2009, it leapfrogged big names suchas , , Holida Cos. and The Opus Group. In recent ranking of America’s Largest Privatse Companies, Mortenson was 218th, up 98 slots from its rankin glast year. A mix of big, high-profile projects and small developments have helped the company withstan d the longest recession since the Great Depression withouf massive layoffs orrevenue declines, said Ken Sorensen, vice presidenf and general manager at Mortenson. “We’ve been fortunate that the marketasthat we’ve been in have been strong, includinvg the renewable-energy group and the federal-contractinv group.
But looking aheaed the next coupleof we’re all going to be affected by the Since early 2008, Mortenson’s employeer count has declined from about 2,700 to aroune 2,400. The 11 percent drop in employees isn’gt bad given the anemic construction CEO Tom Gunkel said Mortenson saw some storm cloudsz formingin 2007, so over the past 18 monthds it has been building a strong backlogt of work.
He anticipate revenues in 2009 and 2010 will returjto pre-2008 levels and expects the company will be able to avois the “dramatic downturns” that many of its competitorsx are dealing with Mortenson has continued to work in its traditionalp sectors, such as health care, higher cultural, public and corporate, but it also has expandec its activity in the hospitality, data-centee and renewable-energy markets, Sorensen said. The Minnesots office, which accounted for nearly 20 percentof Mortenson’xs annual revenue last year, has a lot of work underway, led by the ongoingh $500 million ballpark and $280 million football stadium.
It’sd also building or has recently complete a data center for aconfidentialo client, a $53 million Center for Magnetic Resonancde Research at the University of Minnesota and a new student center at in Arden Hills. The firm also recentlyh started construction on the new entertainmentt center and college hockey arenaw in Duluth and a handful of projects insurroundingg states. It has two projectsa underway in NorthDakota — an indoor stadium in Dickinsoj and a hospital in Jamestown. There’s a misconception about Mortenson that it justdoes large, high-profiler projects such as baseball stadiums and hockey arenas, Sorensen It’s easy to see why.
Mortenson builtg the in Minneapolis, the in St. Paul, and is buildingf the two major stadiumsin Minneapolis. In the past it’s renovated the and the in Minneapolis. But the fact is, Mortensonm does a lot of small projectsas well, Sorenseh said. Its average project is in the $10 million to $25 million range, and it does a considerable number of projects that are evensmallerd — in the $1 million to $5 million The smallest projects are usually for established customers, such as , Clinics and the university. “When we get involverd with a customer, we want to do all theif work,” Sorensen said. “That’s been a very positiv e thing for us.
” Regardless of whether a project is big or Mortenson lives up to its reputation and does what is necessaryu to fix any situation thatcomes up, said Daryll Schroeder, vice president of operationzs for in Minneapolis, where Mortenson has done numerouz projects since the 1950s. “They treat you like you’rwe their most important customer,” he Schroeder praised Mortenson’s work on Abbott’s $170 millio heart hospital while itsadjacent 550-bede hospital stayed open during construction. “That’s like buildinb an airplane while its running downthe runway.
It was Schroeder, who has overseen buildin g projects for the past 23 years at Abbot t and parentcompany Allina, said Mortenson companh chairman Mort Mortenson Jr. (son of compant founder M.A. Mortenson Sr.) has been a good financia l supporter and friend of Allina overthe years. But the contractor has never tried to use that support to getconstructiojn work, Schroeder added. Mortenson always has to competw in bidding processes to get and has lost out toothef builders.