Due to the growing popularity of gaming in Minnesota, Mystic Lake leadership began to plan for expansion and the design of hotels and large parking ramps to accommodate the casino’s patrons. Braun Intertec was consulted to provide the engineering services necessary to achieve this goal.

Challenges

These projects presented a number of challenges, including:

• High building loads
• Marginal soil conditions
• Proximity to casino
• Roadway construction
• Adjacent wetlands
• Winter construction

The first ten-story hotel was connected to the casino in an area previously filled with clay soils. In addition, the hotel is located adjacent to an existing wetlands area. The second hotel encountered the same challenges. The current 16-story hotel is being constructed between the previous two 10-story hotels and the casino, in very tight quarters.

The three parking ramps were built on or near filled in wetlands. This necessitated developing alternate foundation systems and assessing costs for various approaches to foundation support. Ultimately two of the three ramps were pile supported. The ramps included post-tensioned slabs and heavy column loads.

Solutions

We conducted extensive research on past projects in and around the immediate area. By becoming part of the construction and design team we were able to provide detailed knowledge of the past projects in this area and insight into soil conditions and challenges.

Services provided included geotechnical evaluation, pile length analysis, special inspection during construction along with, dynamic pile testing, excavation observations, pile installation monitoring, reinforcement documentation, post tensioning documentation, concrete testing, NDE of structural steel, and window installation observations.

Two wings to the hotel complex have been built to date. Three parking ramps are currently under construction, the first one completed in April 2003.

Our qualified inspectors and technicians were able to keep up with the rapid pace of the hotel and ramp’s construction schedules. For example, Braun Intertec created maturity curves for post-tensioned concrete to optimize the time needed to strip the concrete forms.

A team of diverse, skilled engineers and experienced technicians led the services we provided during this initiative, contributing to the project’s overall success.