St. Jude Medical Plans Expansion in Texas

St. Jude Medical plans to expand its Plano, Texas, operating unit to keep up with expected growth over the next few years. The company also will invest more than $40 million in a new facility in Costa Rica.

The company’s Neuromodulation Division, which houses 600 of the unit’s 1,190 employees, added about 230 workers last year, and it expects consistent growth at that level for the foreseeable future, said Chris Chavez, president of the company’s Neuromodulation division.

Positions being created this year will include engineers, scientists, clinical and other administrative jobs. Other positions will be in sales and clinical support scattered throughout the country.

As St. Jude Medical adds staff at a rapid pace, the company is outgrowing its Plano facilities: It occupies more than 175,000 square feet at one facility and an additional 10,000 square feet of manufacturing space at another facility.

The company recently signed a five-year lease for 42,000 square feet at the Campus at Legacy, where it will house administrative offices for about 200 people when it moves in by the end of March.

St. Jude Medical also has purchased 15 acres southeast of its current divisional headquarters where it plans to build a second 200,000-square-foot building to house labs and offices in the next two to five years.

In Costa Rica, the company initially will use its facility to expand production of the firm’s heart valve portfolio. Construction of the new plant began in December in Alajuela, and manufacturing is expected to kick off in 2010.