Datacard will move from Minnetonka to Shakopee

Fast growing Datacard Group will move from its crowded Minnetonka headquarters to the spacious TE Connectivity building in Shakopee late next year, officials confirmed Wednesday.

Datacard, which has manufactured credit card printing machines in its Minnetonka facility for 35 years, will pay about $30 million to purchase and renovate the Shakopee building.

The Shakopee site offers 370,000 square feet, which is ample space for Datacard's now-crammed 680 workers.

"It has about double the manufacturing space that we currently have," said Datacard spokeswoman Kristin Eckmann. "Our hope is to move in the next 12 to 18 months, depending on whether renovations run smoothly."

Datacard will sell its Minnetonka building once the move is complete. It has looked for an alternative headquarters for more than a year.

Datacard "worked closely with the city of Minnetonka to locate a new facility that would suit our growing needs, but were unsuccessful," said CEO Todd Wilkinson. "I am proud that we will be staying in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area. And I have no doubt that the new facility in Shakopee will accommodate our needs now and in the future."

One city's loss is another's gain.

Shakopee and Scott County will offer up to $659,193 in combined tax abatement relief over 11 years. Any tax relief would only affect new taxes arising from property value increases that result from building renovations, said Samantha DiMaggio, Shakopee's economic development coordinator.

The city of Shakopee has been a hive of activity of late. The mayor and City Council are working hard to get California-based Shutterfly to open a new manufacturing plant in the town. Shutterfly, an Internet-based image publishing company, could employ up to 800 workers.

Separately, Emerson Electric's Rosemount division announced in June that it would take over a long-abandoned 60-acre complex that the former ADC Telecommunications had started to build in Shakopee. Rosemount will invest $70 million to finish and renovate that 500,000-square-foot structure.

In an odd twist, the building that Datacard is buying is ADC Telecommunications' old headquarters building 13 miles away. Tyco Electric bought that building and the rest of ADC Telecommunications in December 2010 and soon changed its name to TE Connectivity.

TE Connectivity went on to move its Shakopee manufacturing operations to Mexico last year but still kept 228 employees in Shakopee. TE Connectivity updated that figure Thursday, saying it has 400 employees in Shakopee and next year will move them to a new building that will also be in Shakopee.