Vascular Solutions Inc., the maker of heart and vascular surgery supplies, said it is paying $2.7 million for a 26,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Maple Grove.

The new building, across the street from its headquarters and manufacturing building that it purchased last month, will eventually be used to produce freeze-dried plasma for battlefield use under a contract with the U.S. Army, the company said.

"The purchase of our facilities allows us to better organize and expand our R&D and manufacturing operations to sustain our pace of new product flow," Vascular Solutions CEO Howard Root said in a prepared statement announcing the real estate deal.

The deal comes as Root and the company contest conspiracy charges of selling a varicose-vein therapy for uses other than what was approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

On Tuesday, they learned that a judge in western Texas has refused a request to transfer the case from Texas to a federal court in Minnesota. In November, both Root and the company were charged by a San Antonio grand jury with felony conspiracy and eight misdemeanor counts of selling the company's "short kit" Vari-Lase product for unapproved treatments.

Root and the company have strongly denied those allegations, calling them "absurd" in a prepared statement. They say the product, voluntarily pulled from the market, amounted to 0.1 percent of company sales. The company paid $520,000 to settle an earlier whistleblower case involving similar allegations without admitting wrongdoing.

Root has assured investors that Vascular Solutions has adequate assets to fight the new criminal case and continue to build its business at the same time.

As of Dec. 31, the company had $36.5 million in cash on hand and no long-term debt. In December, the company completed the acquisition of its 79,300-square-foot headquarters and principal manufacturing building at 6464 Sycamore Court North, after leasing the space since 2003.

Vascular Solutions shares closed at $28.35 Wednesday, down 64 cents on the day.

Joe Carlson • 612-673-4779

Twitter: @_JoeCarlson