Graco’s former home in Rogers could be the landing spot for a solar manufacturing operation that would bring more than 180 jobs to the city.
Canada-based Heliene, a designer and builder of solar modules, is interested in leasing the entire 227,000-square-foot building at 13225 Brockton Lane as part of an expansion in Minnesota, according to city officials. The company has an existing facility in Mountain Iron.
“As the company has continued to grow, they have identified a desire to find an additional location either within the Twin Cities metropolitan area or in a different state. Through their search for a location to house their expansion, the company identified 13225 Brockton Lane as a great fit for their business,” according to a Rogers staff report.
Heliene would lease the Rogers building and invest $16 million in the facility, including about $12 million in machinery and equipment and $4 million in building and site improvements, the city said.
Finance & Commerce reached out to Heliene for comment.
Brett Angell, Rogers’ community development director, said Monday that the business hopes to begin build-out of the space in September and be “fully operational by December/January.”
But first, the city is expected to go to bat for Heliene in the company’s quest for state financial assistance. Up for approval at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting is a resolution in support of Heliene’s application for assistance from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The company is eligible for $2.3 million from DEED’s Minnesota Investment Fund, which assists projects that will add new workers and retain “high-quality jobs on a statewide basis.” Included in the DEED package is $1.3 million in forgivable assistance and a $1 million repayable portion, according to the city.
City officials noted in the staff report that local units of government apply to the state on behalf of eligible businesses, with the funds “being essentially pass-through dollars from the Department of Employment and Economic Development to the business.”
Heliene’s expansion would bring 182 jobs to Rogers within two years, according to the city. Hourly wages would range from $22 to $50, not including contributions to benefits.
“The city of Rogers is very excited about the potential addition of Heliene into the business community,” Angell said in an email Monday. “Heliene’s addition to Rogers would bring with them over 180 jobs at a great wage rate for the community and its future employees.
“Additionally, we are excited to add Heliene at a time where renewable energy technologies continue to grow and gain in popularity.”
The Rogers building, known as Diamond Lake Distribution Center III, opened in 2014. Hennepin County property records reveal that the building sold for $20.14 million in April 2021. The building offers 31 dock doors, a 32-foot white roof deck, and 24 trailer drops, according to a marketing brochure from CBRE.
Maxx Schindel, an associate with CBRE’s Minneapolis/St. Paul office, said the building is fully air conditioned, which “sets it apart from others. You don’t see that quite often” in Minnesota industrial buildings.
Heliene’s occupancy would be one of the larger lease deals in the Twin Cities this year.
Schindel said there may be “a couple more” over 200,000 square feet. New buildings with ample space to offer include The Cubes at French Lake, a 1 million-square-foot industrial development in Dayton, but “most of our deals that happen in the Twin Cities market are 30,000 to 60,000” square feet, he said.
Angell said Monday that the building has been vacant for six or seven months. Graco, a manufacturer of industrial pumps and sprayers, was the most recent occupant. In 2022, Graco opened a new 538,000-square-foot, $95 million facility at 12655 W. French Lake Road in Dayton.
Finance & Commerce reported last fall that Heliene was looking for a new location in the Twin Cities. As previously reported, the company opened its Mountain Iron plant in 2018 and has since expanded the facility as demand for solar has increased.
Logan O’Grady, executive director of the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association , said in October that the presence of Heliene in Minnesota “is extremely important to the entire industry and supply chain because our members have for a long time been yearning for more options in terms of product. Heliene offers them kind of a homegrown product that they can invest in.”
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