Andersen Corp. expanding again in Bayport

Andersen Corp. is expanding yet again, this time adding a $40 million window extrusion factory to its Bayport campus to meet growing customer demand.

Company officials and McGough construction are set to break ground Thursday.

The addition, which has been in the planning stages for a year, will add 60,000 square feet onto an existing warehouse that sits on the window company's flagship Bayport campus.

Once the new building is completed, Andersen will hire 40 workers to run the facility, said spokeswoman Kim Welch.

The expansion is the latest in a series this decade. In 2015, Andersen spent $45 million expanding its North Branch and Cottage Grove factories to accommodate the firm's growing window replacement business.

In 2014, Andersen expanded its Bayport manufacturing plant, adding 100 new workers there to build Andersen's 100 Series products, which are the company's lower-priced windows and doors.

Demand for 100 Series products has been so strong that extra capacity is now needed.

"We needed more extrusion capacity to keep up with the sales demand," Welch said. Andersen is seeing "increased demand for both home improvement and for new home construction [builds]."

Unlike several past projects, the new addition will not receive state subsidies.

Andersen, which was founded in Minnesota in 1903, moved to Bayport in 1913 and has been growing ever since.

The company now boasts 12,000 employees across North America and Europe. Minnesota facilities include Bayport, Oak Park Heights, Cottage Grove and North Branch.

The company's latest growth spurt is good for the community, said Bayport Mayor Susan St. Ores.

St. Ores noted that the city has worked with Andersen through the permitting and zoning processes, "and everything went very smoothly," she said. "The addition of jobs, as well as the environmental improvements make this project positive for Andersen, Bayport and the entire region."