German sensor maker plans June construction launch for $100 million Bloomington campus

German sensor maker Sick Inc. will break ground in June on a $100 million technology campus in Bloomington that the company plans to build in four stages over 14 years.

Construction on the first phase of the 12-acre project is expected to be completed during spring 2022. It calls for a two-story office, warehouse and production building with 120,000 square feet of space at 2501 E. American Blvd.

The total project, to be completed by 2035, will allow Sick Product & Competence Center Americas to consolidate most of its Minnesota workforce onto one campus. Sick owns its U.S. headquarters at 110th Street in Bloomington, leases another site nearby and operates a third factory and warehouse in Savage.

Bloomington's Planning Commission on Thursday approved the final development plan for the first phase and signed off on a preliminary plan for the remaining stages. The full City Council is expected to review building permit requests soon.

"As far as I know, there is no opposition. Both the City Council and the Port Authority are supportive of this project," said Port Authority Administrator Schane Rudlang on Monday.

He noted that the City Council and Port Authority agreed in October 2020 to provide financial assistance for the project in the form of a $5 million land sale price tag. The city also agreed to build a parking structure that would be used by the public and Sick employees.

Rudlang told city officials in October that the investments were warranted as Sick is bringing high-tech jobs to Bloomington that pay workers $81,000 a year on average. Sick has 300 employees among its Bloomington and Savage locations; 700 workers in the United States and about 10,000 worldwide.

Bloomington Senior Planner Londell Pease said some city parking requirements, building permits and other details for the technology campus have yet to be worked out, but overall "it's very positive going forward," Pease said. "We are in support of this."

Hopkins-based Clow Berg is the architect for the project. The Minnetonka-based Ancoats construction management firm will be the general contractor.

Once construction of the first-phase building is complete, Sick plans to build a four-story headquarters office building and a multilevel parking ramp — both abutting the first building. That second phase of construction is set to start by 2025.

Construction of a factory addition is projected to begin by 2030. The campus project's final stage is expected to include a 78,000-square-foot office building.

Sick, which specializes in making factory and logistics automation products for the food and consumer goods packaging industry, MSP International Airport and retailers, generated $1.9 billion in revenue in 2019.

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725