We're reading the headlines so you don't have to.

From the EPA banning the last form of asbestos in the United States to a $40M senior project in Lake Elmo to a bipartisan bill in Wisconsin boosting EV infrastructure across the state, here's what was buzzing in the building world the week of March 18 - 22, 2024:

MARCH 18

Advocates win planning grant to redesign Olson Memorial Highway
The federal government awarded $1.6-million to a Minneapolis advocacy group to study redeveloping Olson Memorial Highway as a transit-and-pedestrian-oriented boulevard. Highway 55 is currently one of Minneapolis' deadliest streets. Advocates want to address that and restore a long-lost commercial district that the highway paved over. MnDOT is already making plans to narrow the highway, which the 1990s construction of I-394 made redundant. (Axios Twin Cities)
 

Biden signs strong budget for inland waterways construction
The fiscal year 2024 budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was included in a funding package for six federal agencies that was signed by Biden on March 8th, providing a health infusion of funds to continue maintenance and modernization of the inland waterway system. Overall, the bill provides $8.7-billion for the Corps through September 30th, an increase of $1.27-billion over what the Biden Administration had proposed for FY24. (Work Boat)
 

Business Confidence Gaining Momentum Among CEOs
According to a new report out from California-based advisory group Vistage, business confidence among small- and mid-sized business owners is gaining momentum. Vistage surveyed a number of CEOs from a variety of industries, including construction. When it comes to construction, 16% of business owners said they expect the economy to improve in the year ahead, while 47% expect it to remain about the same, 36% expect it to worsen, and 1% don't know/don't have an opinion. (For Construction Pros)
 

Dollar General plans 800 stores this year as rival Dollar Tree pulls back
One month after opening its 20,000th store, Dollar General said during an earnings call that it plans to open 800 more new stores, remodel 1,500 locations and relocate 85 stores this year --- 2,385 real estate projects overall. The news comes one day after chief rival Dollar Tree Inc. said it plans to close about 600 of its Family Dollar locations this year and an additional 400 stores under both banners in the coming years as leases expire. (Construction Dive)
 

EPA bans last form of asbestos used in United States
The US Environmental Protection Agency said that it is taking a "historic" step by banning ongoing uses of asbestos, which has long been linked to multiple types of cancer. The agency's announcement of the final rule applies to chrysotile asbestos, the only form of asbestos currently being used in or imported to the United States. It is the most common type of asbestos used in the world, used in car parts such as aftermarket automotive brakes and linings and other vehicle friction products and gaskets. It's been banned in 50 other counties. (CNN Health)
 

Golf center planned near Mystic Lake Casino
A new golf driving range and entertainment center in Prior Lake is expected to begin construction this spring, according to a press release from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. The center will be the first in the United States for Launchpad Golf, a Canadian company that has established golfing facilities in that country. The facility will be a two-story, 25,000-square-foot building with the ability to serve over 500 people. It will include 40 heated golf suites, a restaurant and two bars. (Finance & Commerce)
 

LaunchPad Gold to open large attraction at Mystic Lake in Prior Lake
The facility will feature a 160,000-square-foot driving range anchored by a 25,000-square-foot building featuring 40 heated golf suites, two bars and a full-service restaurant. The idea is comparable to the indoor/outdoor concept of Topgolf, where golfers can socialize and play golf games year round. According a new release announcing the partnership, it will be the first LaunchPad Golf facility to open in the United States. Construction will begin as early as this spring and the facility is expected to open in mid-2025. (Minneapolis - St Paul Business Journal)
 

Milwaukee Plan Commission to review 32-story mass timber project
Madison-based The Neutral Project introduced plans for The Edison, a 381-unit apartment tower with street-facing retail at 1005 North Edison Street. The developer wants to break ground in September and complete construction in 2027, but they must get approval from the Milwaukee Plan Commission first. Chicago-based Hartshorned Plunkard Architecture submitted plans to the city with renderings, details about the design and sustainability features. According to the plans, The Edison will be built where a historic timber yard once was. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Research explores safer work zones for flaggers
Flaggers directing traffic in work zones have an especially dangerous job, since they are charged with stopping distracted or aggressive drivers from entering work zones. Working directory with maintenance workers to ensure their needs and expectation were met, researchers developed and test two smart sign systems: both a Stop/Slow paddles, similar to what flaggers traditionally use, and a portable traffic signal prototype were modified to include vehicle trajectory tracking and audiovisual warning capabilities. (Finance & Commerce)
 

MARCH 19

EPA asbestos ban is '30 years in the making'
The final rules marks a major expansion of EPA regulation under a landmark 2016 law that overhauled regulations governing tens of thousands of toxic chemicals in everyday products, from household cleaners to clothing and furniture. The new rule would ban chrysotile asbestos, the only ongoing use of asbestos in the United States. The substance is found in products such as brake linings and gaskets and is used to manufacture chlorine bleach and sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda, including some that is used for water purification. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Fight over Midtown Greenway on-ramp will go before Minneapolis park board
Minneapolis park board members will meet to consider a plan to pave an on-ramp to the Midtown Greenway through a community garden. From I-35 to almost Bde Maka Ska, there are no access points to the greenway that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This on-ramp would change that. Hennepin County planners disputed that construction would rob the garden of plantable square footage, the Star Tribune reported. (Axios Twin Cities)
 

Grant programs helps states build and connect trails across U.S.
The Biden administration was set to open applications for a new grant program that for the first time prioritizes not just building trails but connecting the existing ones. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law allowed for as much as $1-billion over five years for the program, but Congress has authorized less than $45-million so far. Still, trail activities say the commitment is almost as important as the dollar figure. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Milwaukee's Baird Center expansion exceeds minority business goal
When the project started, it had goals to assign 25% of its contracts to minority-owned businesses, 5% to women-owned businesses and 1% to disabled veteran-owned businesses. To date, the project engaged 25.3% minority-owned businesses, 16.5% women-owned businesses and 1% disabled veteran-owned businesses, reported James Methu, the community affairs and inclusion specialist at Gilbane Building Co., to the Wisconsin Center District board. (Finance & Commerce)
 

The Once and Future Shopping Mall
In the many decades since we started going to shopping malls, we have rarely stopped to ask what larger purpose, if any, they are supposed to serve. They are seen almost entirely as commercial enterprises designed to make a profit and respond to, and often create, consumer demand. Very littler has been written about malls as a social institution. But social values were very much on the mind of Victor Gruen, the Austrian-born designer who created the first enclosed mall in the United States, Southdale Center in suburban Minneapolis, in 1956. (Governing)
 

STUDY: Conversions could help revitalize downtown St Paul
Looking in part at the past to create a roadmap for the future, downtown St Paul boosters are counting on office-to-housing conversions like the Pioneer Endicott project to create a more vibrant central business district. In 2011, PAK Properties and Halverson and Blaiser Group Ltd. paid $1.1-million for the 1889-vintage, 350,000-square-foot Pioneer Endicott complex at 141 East Fourth Street in downtown St Paul and spent to $42-million turn the former offices into 234 apartments. With office building owners struggling to find tenants in the post-pandemic era, conversions are fashionable again --- and downtown St Paul is in a good place to capitalize on that trend, according to a new report from the Downtown Saint Paul Alliance. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Tennant rolls out compact floor-scrubbing robot
The X4 ROVR is a more compact robotic scrubber designed for smaller spaces, which can be monitored with a mobile application, email reports and an online portal. It's much smaller and self-guided needing less intervention from human hands (note the absence of the steering wheel included in older models of autonomous Tennant cleaners). It's equipped with a 10-gallon solution tank and can clean at a rate of up to 20,000-square-feet on a single full tank.  (Minneapolis - St Paul Business Journal)
 

United Properties plans $40M senior project in Lake Elmo
Minneapolis-based United Properties hopes to start pushing dirt soon on a $40-million, 147-unit senior housing community in Lake Elmo, the developer's fourth Amira-branded project in the Twin Cities. Amira Lake Elmo LLC, an entity related to United Properties, paid $756,000 in cash for the nearly 12-acre development site at 8695 Eagle Point Boulevard as part of an internal sale, according to a newly released certificate of real estate value. United Land LLC was the seller. (Finance & Commerce)
 

MARCH 20

Anoka County, MnDOT launch review of Highway 10 expansion plan
The project, overseen by Anoka County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, will expand Highway 10 from four lanes to six lanes on a 3.2-mile stretch between Round Lake Boulevard and Creek Meadow Drive in Coon Rapids. Additional work includes widening of shoulders, construction of wet ponds and infiltration basics, mill and overlay of existing pavement, wetland and floor plain mitigation, lighting and culvert improvements, and noise wall construction. The project is designed to relieve backups on stretches of highway that see up to two hours of congestion in peak hours. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Bipartisan bills boost EV charging network across Wisconsin
The new laws free up nearly $80-million in federal construction air and make it easier for gas stations, convenience stores and other businesses to operate the electric vehicle charging stations. The measures were backed by businesses and environmentalists alike and cheered as a way for Wisconsin to expand its electric vehicle charging network. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Judge throws out lawsuit against Minneapolis church redevelopment
Hennepin County District Court Judge Lois Conroy ruled in favor of the city of Minneapolis and the project's developers --- an entity called Beard Manager LLC --- after neighboring property owner Dan Murphy alleged the city erred in granting approvals for the project. The project is located at the site of the former Lake Harriet Christian Church, at 5009 Beard Avenue, a few blocks east of the 50th & France shopping district. The project seeks to replace the church with a 5-story, 63-unit apartment building and 1,500-square-feet of commercial space. (Minneapolis - St Paul Business Journal)
 

Rachel acquires golf course site, faces lawsuit to stop development
St. Michael-based Rachel Development Inc. paid $4.7-million for the old Mississippi Dunes Golf Course site, where it plans to create 377 single-family housing lots, according to a certificate of real estate value made public. The City Council approved the project in February, despite pushback from residents. During a contentious City Council meeting, residents raised concerns about potential impacts to bee populations, mussels, endangered species, birds, trees and more. (Finance & Commerce)
 

United Properties plans Amira senior housing project in Lake Elmo
Finance & Commerce talks with the Minneapolis-based developer about its plans for a $40-million, 147-unit senior housing community called Amira Lake Elmo. Construction is set to begin this spring, with an opening possibly by mid-2025. (Minneapolis - St Paul Business Journal)
 

MARCH 21

Permitting reform bills introduced to Minnesota Legislature
Efforts to streamline environmental permitting in Minnesota are getting attention of state lawmakers on the heels of a recent study that links permitting reform to economic growth. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and other organizations are backing two newly introduced bills designed to simply the time-consuming process of obtaining air, water, and wetland permits for projects. (Finance & Commerce)
 

Wisconsin school referendums seek $1.3B in repairs and operating costs
Wisconsin schools in April will ask voters to approve more than $1.3-billion for building repairs, maintenance and operating costs. This includes a quarter-billion-dollar revenue increase for Milwaukee Public Schools, which has received different responses from the city business community and its leadership. In April 2023, there were 83 referendums that sought to increase local property taxes for K-12 schools; 46 were approved, or over $600-million of the nearly $1.2-billion districts asked for that year. There will be 91 referendums on the April 2nd ballot, according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. (Finance & Commerce)