by Peter Bodley
Contributing Writer
Power plant structures, including a tunnel system, that were part of the old Anoka State Hospital when it opened in 1900, will be demolished.
The Anoka County Board has awarded a contract to Fridley-based Morcon Construction in the amount of $2.529 million, plus $500,000 in contingencies, to remove not only the tunnel system and power plant with its 75-foot-tall stack, but also the connected old coal bin and maintenance/carpenters’ shop.
As part of the project, following building and tunnel removal, grade will be restored and refinished to current green space, sidewalk or roadway conditions.
The state hospital closed in 1999 when the state’s newly constructed Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center opened just to the north, and the state gave the property to the county.
The buildings and cottages have become the county’s Rum River Human Services campus, from where the corrections department, including the workhouse and human services programs have operated.
Two nonprofits, Stepping Stone Emergency Housing, which provides housing and support services to homeless adult men and women 18 and older, and Haven for Heroes, which houses homeless veterans and/or families, also use building and cottages at the campus.
Demolition work is expected to take place from May to November after abatement of hazardous materials has been completed. The board approved a $558,250 contract, plus $100,000 for contingencies, for that project Dec. 19, 2023 to VCI Environmental, Lino Lakes. Work started in January.
Electrical and mechanical work has also been completed, along with installation of a new fiber ring.
Andrew Dykstra, county facilities management and construction director, said that the tunnel, power plant, old coal bin and shop were constructed over a period of years beginning in 1895.
The tunnel, which is about a mile long, provided central heating and water to the hospital buildings and cottages, Dykstra said in email response to questions.
“Back in the day, it was also used for the movement of supplies, meals and doctor/nurse visits to the cottages,” he said.
In recent years, the county embarked on a program to decentralize the heating system by installing individual boilers in 15 buildings and cottages.
Structural conditions have deteriorated over the years, including shoring and cracked columns throughout the coal bin as well as water intrusion in the tunnel from a variety of vertical and horizontal cracking, plus significant corrosion and condensation.
While the stack is not at risk of immediate collapse, its top has significantly deteriorated and “we are fortunate no bricks have been blown around during severe weather situations,” Dykstra said.
The board’s Finance and Capital Improvement Committee gave staff the green light in April 2023 to move forward with architectural, structural, civil, mechanical, electrical and landscape drawings and specifications for the abatement and demolition projects, while the board included $5.5 million in its capital improvements program budget to pay the cost from its asset preservation fund.
The estimate for the demolition work was between $3 to $3.5 million.
“It was a great low bid, simply a great bid,” Dykstra said.
Commissioner Jeff Reinert, who chairs the Finance and Capital Improvement Committee, described conditions in the tunnel system as “being like in a horror movie” and a very dangerous situation.
Commissioner Mike Gamache, who chairs the county board, praised the hard work of staff on the project, which has been a long time coming. Some people, like ghost hunters, won’t be happy with the demolition, but the county has been trying to keep them out of what is a dangerous area, he said.
“This project will take care of it once and for all,” Gamache said.
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