"We needed a company headquarters that said "trendy, edgy, creative, and fun". . . . Karkela created all that and more out of an early 1900's building.

. . . everyone loves the innovative use of windows all across the dividing area.  Almost every office now has access to direct sunlight . . . no detail was left unattended.

Karkela Construction did an awesome job, and our employees, vendors, and visitors all comment that Mara-Mi finally has a building that reflects the creativity and uniqueness of our employees and products."

Christine O.

Orius Corporation

NuSource Financial

Hypoguard

Ethan Allen

Nevers Industries

Interactive Ventures

Colonial Warehouse

Prairie Electric

Johnson Midwest

Northwest Blending

Larson-Juhl

Associated Medical Products

Bird & Cronin Medical Products

Client Profile - The building intended as the headquarters for Mari Mi, would be filled with creative professionals who revel in natural light.  The building is located at 1515 Central Avenue in what is affectionately called “Nordeast Minneapolis” -- and now is part of the renaissance, with a lot of artsy type of people moving into the area. This is a very exciting “hip area” for that part of the city.

Client Needs – Karkela Construction was the general contractor for this exciting renovation of an abandoned foundry building constructed in the early 1900s. The project involved:

The original estimate for finishing this project was 75 days– and Karkela completed it in 73. The new tenant didn’t think it was possible and they were thrilled when Karkela succeeded.

Karkela’s Solution

Structure:  In knocking down so many walls within the space to open it up to accept the new offices, Karkela had to make certain the building was structurally sound. Working with W.T. McCullough Engineers, structural and flooring engineering, helped to solve this problem.  For example, one old exterior wall that was demolished went clear up through the roof and needed to be shored up on both sides where it split the roof.  A new column and steel beam system was erected to mate with that existing roof structure and to carry the load.  Karkela was constantly challenged to be creative in retrofitting to make the new construction work with the original building's construction.

Water Issues:  Karkela discovered after the fourth scoop of the backhoe there was an underground creek running directly under the building.  The creek was not going anywhere because it been there for a lifetime.  Karkela had to deal with the creek at the bottom elevation of our footings.  The loading ramps that were designed to go down into the grade to meet the height of the building.  If the area was not pumped it would fill up with 8 feet of water.  The design of the loading ramp was changed to go over the wet area, basically floating it.  Special pumps were added in the ground and the area was successfully dewatered.

Past Building Use:  The metal foundry that had been in the building for many years boiled a lot of lead and had an asbestos oven.  In earlier construction, they had used PCB – Karkela ensured that all workers were safe.  The existing concrete floor had 2 inches of dirt and grime on it.  A street sweeper cleaned the entire existing floor.  Then Karkela thoroughly shot blasted the entire floor and a new concrete floor applied over the original floor.  Karkela developed specifications for the floor to make it adhere and bond – and not shrink and crack up over the existing floor and reduce the potential of it not accepting the new floor.  Over the years the building had been abandoned, the floor had settled so much that there was a 10-inch drop from one end to the other.  Karkela brought in a special laser screed machine to set the precedents for the new floor height.  It went from 8-1/2 inches at the center of the building to 2-1/2 at the end by the time our work was completed.  Karkela's crew laid a perfectly flat floor in one day.