JE Dunn Lands $480M Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport Overhaul

The Metropolitan Airports Commission has allocated $480 million for a modernization and expansion at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport — and it has tapped JE Dunn Construction to run the job. The Kansas City, Missouri-based firm will serve as construction manager at risk, according to an Oct. 19 news release and the commission's RFQ document.

At the heart of the project sits a piece of infrastructure older than most of the travelers who walk past it: a central utility plant that has served Terminal 1 since about 1962. Crews will demolish the existing Energy Management Center structure and replace it with an expanded EMC facility, per the RFQ.

What does the new plant include?

The scope reads like a full systems rebuild rather than a retrofit. Per the RFQ, the new facility will feature:

• Upgrades to the steam boiler plant
• Complete replacement of the chilled water plant
• An industrial heat-recovery chiller system
• A new heating-water distribution system
• Potential installation of a 28-well geothermal system

The concourse work is just as substantial. Teams will deconstruct about 183,400 square feet of existing concourse space and build about 309,990 square feet of new concourse facilities, according to the document. Planning and design of the multiphased project is already underway, per JE Dunn's release.

When will construction start?

JE Dunn expects enabling work to begin in 2027, with major construction starting in 2028. The contractor targets final completion for 2032. That's a decade-long arc from RFQ to ribbon-cutting — typical for utility-plant work that has to happen in the middle of a busy Midwest airport without shutting it down.

The firm has practice at exactly that. At the same airport, JE Dunn recently completed a 378,000-square-foot terminal renovation that improved 75 Delta Airlines gates and six concourses, according to the contractor. That work took place overnight to keep the terminal fully operational, per the company.

The Minneapolis win isn't JE Dunn's only airport milestone this year. Earlier in 2025, the contractor also won work on the $1 billion Norfolk International Airport upgrade in Virginia.

For airport operators watching from other regions, the project signals where the next wave of airport capital spending is heading: below the concourses, at the plant level. Replacing 1960s-era heating and cooling systems — with heat recovery and a possible 28-well geothermal array — pairs deferred-maintenance relief with energy performance, and the 2032 completion date suggests more owners will follow MSP's lead in programming utility upgrades alongside passenger-facing expansion.