Knutson Construction Services Midwest Inc. in Iowa City is shuttering its operations and laying off 40 employees effective Oct. 3, according to a notice on the state of Iowa’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) site.
The Minneapolis-based company specializes in new construction, construction management and general contracting, and lists the University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa as clients on its website.
Knutson Construction has been involved in numerous large-scale projects in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids in the past, such as the 2017 new blending facility for Lesaffre Yeast Corporation in Cedar Rapids, the 2019 East College Development Project in Iowa City for which it built an 11-story student housing tower and renovated nearby historic buildings that lined the Ped Mall; and general contracting the NewBo Gateway project in 2020.
The company made headlines in June 2022 when the University of Iowa filed a lawsuit against it, claiming Knutson Construction installed defective windows in the UI’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital; and again in July, when it overhauled its leadership team with Brendan Moore replacing John Curry as president and Mr. Curry assuming the role of CEO.
Knutson Construction Services Midwest Inc. opened its Iowa City location in 1982 as Mid-America Construction Company of Iowa, changing the name in 1998 and moving to its current location at 2351 Scott Blvd.
