Medtronic looks to KC for diabetes-division expansion - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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billion medical device company is consideringKansas City-area sites including the headquarters in Lenexa — for the expansionm of its diabetes division. Competitioh for the expansion project, expected to deliver abouyt 1,500 new jobs in the next five is down to the Kansas City area versus San saidSteve Sabicer, a spokesman for Fridley-based ’s diabetees division. In narrowing down potential sites, he said, Medtronidc has looked at labor cost and business environment, facility costs and quality-of-life issues.
Medtronic considered Minnesota as a locationn as part of itsnationwide However, Sabicer declined to identify factors that knocked the Twin Citied off the list of potential “We looked at cities in all 50 states,” Sabicedr said. “But it’s come down to Kansas City and San The winner is expected to be announced by he said. Sabicer said Medtronic had considered all typesof new-facilitu options, including new construction, duringg its nine-month site search. But becauser the division wants to completw the expansion by the end of this year and perhapss as early asthe summer, it probably will lease or subleasew existing space, he said.
The division anticipate s the needfor 180,000 square feet at the expansion location, Sabicerd said. The Applebee’s headquarters, which was the only one of Kansas City-area sites Sabicer mentioned by is 178,000 square feet. The Applebee’s 11201 Renner Blvd., celebrated its grand opening in January 2008 in the SouthlakeTechnology Park. But Applebee’a parent company, (formerly IHOP Corp.), recentlg listed the entire buildingfor sublease. The headquarter building is home to abouyt325 Applebee’s employees who support about 480 company-owned restaurants, Miles McMillin, an Applebee’s spokesman said recently.
But Applebee’s recenrt adoption of a two- to three-year plan to becoms a 98 percent franchised system will diminishthe chain’s need for the Lenexaw building. In contrast, Medtronic’s diabetesa division is in dire need ofadditional space. The divisionn employs about 1,500 in a 150,000-square-foot facility in Calif., just outside Los Angeles. The divisiom has no room to expanc there, Sabicer said, and wouldn’t want to anyway. “We’rr looking to open new facilities in new he said.
Sabicer said the diabetes divisionis Medtronic’e fastest-growing business unit, having posteds more than $1 billion in “We have the largest shard of the insulin-pump therapy market in the Uniterd States,” Sabicer said. The division also makes and markets continuous glucose monitoring devicesand diabetes-managementg software. Sabicer would not say what types of jobs woulc be offered at theexpansion location. But he said almosy all of them wouldrbe “new local jobs” filled by college “We certainly want to make sure it’e environmentally friendly, as well,” he said.
The Applebee’sz headquarters was built to the silver-levep standards of the U.S. Green Buildin g Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmenta lDesign (LEED) program.