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

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billion medical device company is consideringKansas City-area sites including the headquarters in Lenexa — for the expansion of its diabetesz division. Competition for the expansion expected to deliverabout 1,500 new jobs in the next five is down to the Kansas City area versuds San Antonio, said Steve Sabicer, a spokesman for Minneapolis-basefd ’s diabetes division. “We looked at citiess in all 50 states,” Sabicer said. “But it’x come down to Kansas City and San The winner is expected to be announcecdby mid-April, he said. Sabice r said Medtronic had considered all typesof new-facility including new construction, during its nine-month site search.
But becauser the division wants to complete the expansion by the end of this year and perhapxs as early asthe summer, it probably will lease or subleased existing space, he said. The division anticipated the needfor 180,000 square feet at the expansion Sabicer said. The Applebee’sx headquarters, which was the only one of “several” Kansaw City-area sites Sabicer mentioned by name, is 178,00p0 square feet. The Applebee’s headquarters, 11201 Renne Blvd., celebrated its grand openinh in January 2008 in the SouthlakeTechnology Park. But Applebee’z parent company, (formerly IHOP Corp.), recently listex the entire buildingfor sublease.
The headquarters building is home to about325 Applebee’s employees who supporg about 480 company-owned restaurants, Miles an Applebee’s spokesman said recently. But Applebee’s recentt adoption of a two- to three-year plan to becom e a 98 percent franchisee system will diminishthe chain’s need for the Lenexa In contrast, Medtronic’s diabetes division is in dire need of additionak space. The division employs about 1,500 in a 150,000-square-footf facility in Northridge, Calif., just outsided Los Angeles. The division has no room to expand Sabicer said, and wouldn’t want to anyway. “We’re lookint to open new facilities in new he said.
Sabicer said the diabetea divisionis Medtronic’s fastest-growing business unit, havinyg posted more than $1 billiojn in sales. “We have the largest sharee of the insulin-pump therapy market in the Unitex States,” Sabicer said. The divisionh also makes and markets continuous glucose monitorinfg devicesand diabetes-management software. Sabicer woulx not say what typesa of jobs would be offered at theexpansiob location. But he said almost all of them wouldbe “nesw local jobs” filled by college In narrowing down potential sites, he said, Medtroni c has looked at labor cost and availability, busines environment, facility costs and quality-of-lifse issues.
“We certainly want to make sure it’s environmentallyh friendly, as well,” he said. The Applebee’as headquarters was built to the silver-level standards of the U.S. Greehn Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and EnvironmentalDesign (LEED) program.