With state help, Cirtec Medical is expanding into a second Brooklyn Park facility as part of a project that will add 200 manufacturing jobs and retain another 350 positions, state officials announced last week.
Cirtec, which designs and makes medical neurostimulation, electrical leads and other implantable components for manufacturers, will use a leased 85,000-square-foot facility to research and manufacture implantable pain-control products for customers.
The building, which doubles the firm's Brooklyn Park presence, will be called the Cirtec Neuromodulation Center of Excellence.
For the expansion, Cirtec received an $800,000 Minnesota Investment Fund loan from the state and has already held a virtual career fair to help find additional workers for the new site, which sits up the road from its existing headquarters in Brooklyn Park.
Construction begins this month to convert the new site into exactly what Cirtec needs. Once complete, the current one-story building will gain a mezzanine floor with 15,000 square feet, said Laura Murphy, chief financial officer. Construction should be finished in the second quarter of 2021, she said, adding that the significant growth of its customer base drove the need to expand.
Cirtec CEO Brian Highley noted assistance from state and local officials and said, "this new facility will further expand our design, finished device assembly and sterilization capabilities while ensuring we have the capacity to support our customer's growth."
The center's newly added jobs will pay an average $22.89 an hour.
Gov. Tim Walz said Cirtec Medical's expansion in Brooklyn Park is "yet another indicator that Minnesota is the land of growth and opportunity for our business community."
Because Cirtec Medical has facilities around the world, state officials emphasized that it could have expanded anywhere but chose Minnesota.
"This expansion is a testament to Minnesota's solid workforce," said Steve Grove, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Brooklyn Park Mayor Jeffrey Lunde noted that the decision adds more heft to the city's burgeoning medical technology and manufacturing corridor. Lunde, Murphy and DEED officials noted that the state's nearby Career Workforce Center in town will assist in finding new workers for the site.
Cirtec Medical specializes in a host of advanced medical products including neuromodulation, implantable drug delivery, cardiac rhythm management, ventricular assistance products and minimally invasive devices.
The company has facilities in Brooklyn Park; Arizona, Connecticut, California, Massachusetts as well as Costa Rica and Germany.
Cirtec Medical made three acquisitions in Minnesota during the last four years which significantly expanded its design and manufacturing prowess.
It bought metal stamping firm Stellar Technologies in Brooklyn Park in 2016 and the Top Tool precision machine shop in Blaine in 2017. In March of this year, it bought certain assets of implantable device maker Nuvectra Corp.
Dee DePass • 612-673-7725
