Heating and air conditioning equipment maker Daikin Applied Americas will lease new office space in Plymouth to accommodate its growing Minnesota workforce, officials announced this week.

Daikin Applied Americas, headquartered in Plymouth with factories in Faribault and Owatonna, needs new office space to accommodate existing workers and future growth, officials said.

Daikin will lease space in the Atria building at 3033 ­Campus Drive. That's not far from the existing Daikin corporate headquarters on Industrial Park Boulevard, which counts 460 workers. The headquarters also houses Daikin's technology center and its applied development center. The Industrial Park Boulevard site will retain its headquarters role.

Company officials said it is not yet known how many workers will relocate to the new space or how many positions will be added over time. Daikin is expected to begin using the new space this year.

The company is owned by Japan-based Daikin International, the world's largest HVAC manufacturer. Daikin has doubled its U.S. business in six years and expanded several times. Daikin Applied Americas employs 2,500 people across 11 locations in the United States and Canada.

In 2000, it opened its Owatonna factory. In 2014, it tripled in size there via a $9 million expansion.

In May 2018, Daikin bought a building just north of Faribault. The site — Daikin's second plant in the Faribault area — is being renovated. Officials expect to staff it with 200 employees beginning in mid-2019. The project will cost about $40 million and receive about $2.35 million in state loans and grants.

Expansion has been driven by increased customer demand for more efficient heating and air conditioning systems for giant towers and other office and factory buildings.

Remote monitoring systems and lower energy costs are high on the wish lists of customers constructing buildings or upgrading older ones, Daikin Applied Americas CEO Mike Schwartz has said previously.

Going forward, the U.S. division "expects double-digit annual growth to continue," said Kirk Thorne, executive vice president of sales and marketing. "This office space expansion, when combined with Daikin's recently announced $40 million investment in a new factory in Faribault, is further proof of Daikin Applied's commitment to Minnesota and growing its business roots in the community."

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725