Brady Hatcher and partners three years ago started Switchback Medical, which designs and manufactures medical devices, at a facility in Maple Grove.
Growth has been rapid. Now with 80 employees, Switchback is spending $11 million to acquire and update a 120,000-square-foot building in Brooklyn Park as its new headquarters. Switchback will start moving employees into the building next month.
"Things have just gone crazy," Hatcher said. "I was sitting in this building three years ago by myself."
In recent years, Brooklyn Park has been a magnet for companies like Switchback.
"Brooklyn Park has a lot of medical manufacturers," said Daniela Lorenz, Brooklyn Park's business development coordinator. She said that the city's "medical corridor" is centered around Hwy. 610 and W. Broadway Avenue.
A few years ago Japan-based Olympus built its $37 million Surgical Innovation Center in Brooklyn Park, a big investment in the city. Then-Gov. Mark Dayton was on hand for the grand opening when the 180,000-square-foot facility opened in 2015.
Olympus, which had previously been in Maple Grove, was also weighing locations in the Boston, Memphis and Cleveland metro areas when it decided to stay in the Twin Cities.
Switchback Medical's expansion is being driven by its brisk business growth. The company caters to small but solid medical device companies and doctors who are patenting and inventing devices, he said.