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

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As its revenue grew from $1.16 billiom to $2.83 billion in it leapfrogged big names suchas , , Holidayh Cos. and The Opus Group. In recent ranking of America’s Largest Private Companies, Mortensoj was 218th, up 98 slotas from its rankinglast year. A mix of big, high-profile projectsd and small developments have helperd the company withstand the longest recession since the Greagt Depression without massive layoffs or revenue declines, said Ken Sorensen, vice presidenft and general manager at Mortenson. “We’ve been fortunatde that the marketsthat we’ve been in have been including the renewable-energy group and the federal-contractintg group.
But looking ahead the next coupleof we’re all going to be affected by the challenges.” Since early Mortenson’s employee count has declined from about 2,700 to aroundr 2,400. The 11 percent drop in employees isn’t bad give n the anemic construction market. CEO Tom Gunkel said Mortensobn saw some storm clouds forming in so over the past 18 months it has been buildingv a strong backlogof work. He anticipates revenues in 2009 and 2010 will returnto pre-200 8 levels and expects the company will be able to avoidd the “dramatic downturns” that many of its competitorws are dealing with today.
Mortenson has continueed to work in itstraditionapl sectors, such as healtn care, higher education, public and corporate, but it also has expanded its activitty in the hospitality, data-centerf and renewable-energy markets, Sorensen said. The Minnesota office, whicb accounted for nearly 20 percentof Mortenson’ s annual revenue last year, has a lot of work underway, led by the ongoingt $500 million ballpark and $280 million footballp stadium. It’s also building or has recently completed a data cente for a confidential a $53 million Center for Magneticv Resonance Research at the University of Minnesota and a new student center at in Arden Hills.
The firm also recentlyg started construction on the new entertainment center and colleged hockey arena in Duluthu and a handful of projects in surrounding It has two projects underway in NortuDakota — an indoor stadiumk in Dickinson and a hospital in Jamestown. There’s a misconception aboutt Mortenson that it justdoes large, high-profile projectxs such as baseball stadiums and hockey Sorensen said. It’s easy to see why. Mortenson builtg the in Minneapolis, the in St. Paul, and is buildingy the two major stadiumsin Minneapolis. In the past it’s renovated the and the in But thefact is, Mortenson does a lot of smalo projects as well, Sorensen said.
Its average projectt is in the $10 million to $25 million and it does a considerable number of projectx that are evensmaller — in the $1 millionn to $5 million range. The smallestt projects are usually forestablished customers, such as , Clinics and the university. “Whemn we get involved with a customer, we want to do all theitr work,” Sorensen said. “That’s been a very positivs thing for us.
” Regardless of whether a projec t is bigor small, Mortenson lives up to its reputation and does what is necessart to fix any situatiom that comes up, said Daryl Schroeder, vice presiden of operations for in where Mortenson has done numerous projectz since the 1950s. “Thehy treat you like you’rde their most important customer,” he Schroeder praised Mortenson’s work on Abbott’s $170 million hearr hospital while itsadjacenf 550-bed hospital stayed open duringy construction. “That’s like building an airplanee while its running down the Itwas incredible.
” Schroeder, who has overseemn building projects for the past 23 years at Abbotft and parent company Allina, said Mortenson company chairmanj Mort Mortenson Jr. (son of companyy founder M.A. Mortenson Sr.) has been a good financialk supporter and friend of Allina over the But the contractor has neve tried to use that support to getconstructioj work, Schroeder added. Mortenson always has to compet in bidding processes toget jobs, and has lost out to othere builders.