Space dispute threatens to delay Capitol remodel
Disagreements over space allocation are threatening expensive delays in the $273 million renovation of the Minnesota Capitol building.
Top state leaders have not yet signed off on how offices should be divided among the five primary tenants: the House, Senate, governor, attorney general and supreme court. Their disagreements prevented members of the Capitol Preservation Commission from taking a scheduled vote today to approve the final phase of construction.
DFL Gov. Mark Dayton would not get into specifics, but he said he always thought the final space agreement would be the biggest hurdle.
“Given the sensitivity of some of the issues now it’s not going to serve any purpose for people to stake out their positions,” Dayton said.
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Dayton said he was confident an agreement could will be reached by next Thursday when the commission meets again.
State officials estimate the cost of a project delay at $680,000 per month. Contracts that the state already has in hand for the final phase must be signed by the end of the month or they will have to be rebid.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said a tentative agreement on space allocation had been reached with former DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen. With Republicans now in charge of the House, Bakk said the new speaker needed to get up to speed on those earlier decisions.
“Several of the four floors are actually resolved. We’re probably just dealing with a couple of small pieces of space left in the building unresolved. To say we are miles apart would not be accurate. It’s awful close.”
Bakk said the Senate needs space inside the Capitol for some of its top leaders, even though a new Senate office building is under construction next door.
House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, who’s only been involved in negotiations for a week, said the House doesn't need more space. He said his priority is creating more dedicated public space inside the Capitol. Daudt said he too thinks an agreement is close.
“My hope is that we will not incur one dollar of cost overruns because of delays,” Daudt said. “I’m hopeful that we can get there.”
Republicans have been critical of Democrats's approval of the new Senate office building. GOP candidates made it an issue in the 2014 campaign.
Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, is not involved in the space negotiations. But Hann blamed the new building for the impasse.
"It didn't seem logical to me that you needed to build a building to accommodate the office needs that we have for both the House and the Senate," Hann said.
Project planners want the Capitol renovation largely completed for the start of the 2017 Legislative session.