Dakota County is the third largest county in Minnesota with a population of 421,751. The county has 424 miles of roadways, 83 bridges, 250 traffic signals, and more than 25,000 signs that their public works department is responsible for. In 2016 a study was completed that examined centralizing the majority of their operations into one facility. The existing facility that will be expanded is the Dakota County Empire Campus, which currently is 40 Acres.

Client: Dakota County
Type: Public works, Sheriff’s Office, Dispatch
Size: Remodeled: 31,541 SF // Additions: 44,347 GSF

In conjunction with our consultant, Maintenance Facility Consultants, a division of Whitman, Requardt & Associates, our project design identified a long-range, 20-year operations and space requirement to address the current multiple campus space needs as well as the immediate needs of relocating operations from other campuses to the Empire Transportation site.

The design team worked with the county to maximize the use of existing space while minimizing the construction dollar impacts of new space. One way this was accomplished was by converting existing cold storage space into conditioned space and replacing the cold storage space with a construction solution that would cost less. Operational efficiency was maximized by analyzing the county’s current operations and reconfiguring spaces to provide both appropriately sized space and proper adjacencies.

The site supports operations for transportation, fleet maintenance, parks and recreation, the sheriff’s office and 911 dispatch facility.