The Forest Lake Public Safety and City Hall in Forest Lake, Minnesota — built by Kraus-Anderson Construction — has received a 2016 Project Excellence Award from the Minnesota Construction Association.
The two-story, 66,000-square-foot City Center replaces the former outgrown, outdated and inefficient infrastructure comprised of several aging and heavily adapted buildings, some dating back to 1939.
The new facility consolidates the City Hall, Police, and Fire Departments into a new secure, modern facility built with room to grow. The City of Forest Lake selected a 14-acre location off busy Highway 61, located at 1432 Lake Street North, with an eye on visibility and promoting further development.
Designed by Leo Daly Architects, the new City Center’s shared amenities include conference rooms, break room and a small fitness center with locker rooms. Other building features include council chambers, apparatus room, vehicle sally port, community room and offices.
Due to site watershed challenges, the construction schedule was built around completing soil corrections for the site in the fall so that a majority of the heavy construction could be performed during the winter over frozen ground. Construction commenced in October 2013 and was completed in December 2014.
