River Place

River Place is a new arts and cultural center located along the bank of the Warroad River. This unique multipurpose facility will include a performance space with seating for 300 and green rooms to support theatrical performances and events. There is also dedicated space for studio arts, ceramics, and multi-use media art space to support the pursuit of arts and cultural education in the community. 

Founded by the Marvin Family and local community members, River Place is a 501 c(3) start-up creating a destination in Warroad where people can raise their families and have cultural amenities not typically found in a small town.

"This is an exciting milestone for the community of Warroad,” said Executive Director John Davis at the groundbreaking event. “I've seen firsthand how art, culture, and event centers can transform small, rural communities in ways that were never thought imaginable. I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with the Board of Directors and the local community to bring the vision to life." 

"The building committee, along with our architect [HGA] and contracting partner [Mortenson], have worked tirelessly in thinking through the details on the building design. It's been wonderful to work alongside this talented team and creative minds that didn't blink an eye to roll up their sleeves and do what's possible to achieve the dream," said building committee chair Brenda Baumann. 

Achieving Acoustical Excellence Located near an active railway, River Place requires a high level of quality assurance and quality control to ensure acoustically sensitive performance spaces are constructed correctly. Working closely with the design team acoustical consultant, we developed a detailed acoustical plan to ensure that multiple performance types could perform without being impacted by outside noise and vibrations.

This includes a custom engineering solution to provide exterior windows and a large sliding door. Mortenson is honored to be associated with premier fine arts performance centers in the Midwest and throughout the country. From this experience, we have developed robust technology to address the constructability challenges of theater design and use this knowledge to support performing arts projects like River Place.