The city of Carver has received a nearly $1 million state grant to cover half the cost of building infrastructure for a new headquarters for Lakeview Industries, a manufacturing firm moving there from neighboring Chaska.

Lakeview is expected to bring 95 jobs to Carver, where its new plant is scheduled to begin going up in March and open later in the year.

The company makes nonmetallic parts used in manufacturing medical, aerospace, telecommunications, automotive and other products. Its customers include Medtronic, Polaris, Bobcat and Toro.

"Essentially this is the city's first manufacturing industrial development project," said Carver City Manager Brent Mareck. "To have a business with the reputation and ingenuity that Lakeview has is beyond anyone's wildest dreams."

The $977,134 grant came to Carver from the state Department of Employment and Economic Development through its Innovative Business Development Public Infrastructure Grant Program, which helps cover costs for newly locating or expanding businesses. Carver will pay for the balance of the infrastructure costs using tax-increment financing, Mareck said.

Carver is a city of about 5,000 on the Minnesota River in southeastern Carver County, just upriver from Chaska. The company initially worked with Chaska officials to relocate there, Mayor Mark Windschitl said, but the city didn't have a large enough piece of property at the time.

"We would have loved to have kept them here but we just didn't have any place to put them," Windschitl said. "If they're going to go somewhere, I'm happy they're going to Carver."

The state grant will go toward building Commerce Drive, a road that will lead to Lakeview's new 154,000-square-foot home. Lakeview has purchased 42.5 acres for its new headquarters north of Hwy. 212 off Levi Griffin Road, allowing space for future expansion, said Carver Mayor Courtney Johnson.

Lakeview was founded in 1976 in Plymouth and has been in Chaska since 1990. It occupies two buildings there, one of them leased.

Katy Read • 612-673-4583