Medtronic looks to KC for diabetes-division expansion - Kansas City Business Journal:

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billion medical device company is consideringKansas City-aresa sites — including the headquarters in Lenexs — for the expansion of its diabetes Competition for the expansion expected to deliver aboug 1,500 new jobs in the next five years, is down to the Kansasa City area versus San Antonio, said Steve Sabicer, a spokesmaj for Minneapolis-based ’s diabetes division. “We looked at cities in all 50 states,” Sabicerf said. “But it’s come down to Kansas City and San The winner is expectecd to be announcedby mid-April, he said.
Sabicerr said Medtronic had considerec all typesof new-facility including new construction, during its nine-month site But because the division wants to completew the expansion by the end of this year and perhapa as early as the it probably will lease or sublease existing he said. The division anticipates the needfor 180,000 squars feet at the expansion Sabicer said. The Applebee’s headquarters, which was the only one of Kansas City-area sites Sabiced mentioned by name, is 178,00 0 square feet. The Applebee’s headquarters, 11201 Rennee Blvd., celebrated its grand opening in January 2008 in the SouthlakweTechnology Park.
But Applebee’s parent company, (formerly IHOP Corp.), recently listed the entire buildinygfor sublease. The headquarters building is home to about 325 Applebee’s employees who support about 480 company-owned Miles McMillin, an Applebee’s spokesman said recently. But Applebee’s recent adoption of a two- to three-year plan to becomwe a 98 percent franchised system will diminishthe chain’s need for the Lenexza building. In contrast, Medtronic’s diabetes divisionm is in dire need of additional The division employsabout 1,50o0 in a 150,000-square-foot facilityu in Northridge, Calif.
, just outside Los The division has no room to expand Sabicer said, and wouldn’t want to “We’re looking to open new facilities in new areas,” he said. Sabiceer said the diabetes divisionis Medtronic’s fastest-growinv business unit, having postee more than $1 billion in sales. “We have the largestf share of the insulin-pump therapy markety in the United States,” Sabicer The division also makes and markets continuous glucose monitoring devicesand diabetes-management software. Sabicer would not say what typesd of jobs would be offered at theexpansionb location.
But he said almos t all of them wouldbe “newe local jobs” filled by college graduates. In narrowing down potentialp sites, he said, Medtronic has looked at laborr costand availability, business environment, facilitty costs and quality-of-life issues. “We certainly want to make sure it’sa environmentally friendly, as well,” he The Applebee’s headquarters was built to the silver-levekl standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and EnvironmentalDesign (LEED) program.