about us

OUR MISSION

We think beyond the beam.

We don’t say “no,” we say, “how about this?”

Any reputable firm can provide a textbook engineering solution, designing beams and columns per the client’s direction. We think way beyond textbook engineering principles to anticipate unforeseen issues before they arise—which saves money, time and sometimes the viability of the entire project. We think beyond the beam to uncover value in all areas or the project from structural systems and material types to multi-team collaboration and process efficiency. We use this creative problem-solving approach at each step of the project from proposal to ribbon cutting.

OUR PURPOSE

We create structure for meaningful places.

Over the last four decades, the firm has provided innovative structural solutions for notable projects. Highlights include:

• 1987: ERA’s first of many Holiday Station Stores open in Eagan, MN
• 1990: ERA completes the original building of Target Center in Minneapolis, MN, home to the Minnesota Timberwolves, as well as the remodel in 2015
• 1991: ERA completes AT&T Tower, a 464-tall skyscraper in Minneapolis
• 1992: ERA completes Ameriprise Operations Center in Minneapolis
• 1994: ERA contributes to the renovation and rehabilitation of the Lumber Exchange Building, which in 1885 was the first skyscraper built in Minneapolis
• 1997: US Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis opens
• 1998: ERA designs over 25 Fred Meyer stores in AK, OR & WA
• 1999: ERA is selected by Target to be a national structural engineering partner.  Additionally ERA’s Precast Services Group is born and the Minnesota Aurora Arena in Eagan, MN opens.
• 2003: Life Time Fitness partners with ERA to do work on many national athletic clubs, residential buildings and co-working spaces
• 2005: Bookmen Stacks opens, ERA’s first ER-POST project
• 2007: Guthrie Theater (and the world-famous cantilever “Endless Bridge”) opens.  The $300M expanded Children’s Minnesota Hospital opens in Minneapolis. Across the Mississippi, the University of Minnesota Plant Growth Facility also opens.
• 2009: University of Minnesota TCF Bank Stadium opens (now Huntington Bank Stadium), home to the University of Minnesota Gophers Big Ten football team.
• 2011: ERA designs the foundations for a rail car shake system in Sifang, China
• 2015: CHS Field, home to the St. Paul Saints baseball team, opens
• 2016: ERA designed the structure for Mall of the America’s expansion, including a new JW Marriot hotel, 10-story office building, grand atrium, a new food court and over 150,000 sf of new retail space
• 2023: ERA helped renovate the state-of-the-art Eau Claire Children’s Museum