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LTS just broke ground on a $30 million expansion and renovation of their facility in West St. Paul. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz attended the groundbreaking ceremony and celebrated the 50 jobs the project will bring to West St. Paul.
“It’s a great thing to have in the city of West St. Paul,” said Mayor Dave Napier. “We are a community that can attract big business.”
- Who: LTS is a global drug delivery technology company headquartered in Germany. They acquired the former Tapemark company in 2022, which had been in West St. Paul since 1965.
- Where: LTS has three facilities near the intersection of Marthaler and Lothenbach in West St. Paul.
- When: The ground-breaking ceremony was on Wednesday, July 29, with the project expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete. A number of local officials attended the event, including Walz and Napier, as well as Dakota County commissioners and West St. Paul City Council members.
- What does LTS do? They create innovative drug delivery systems, such as transdermal patches and oral thin film medications. It’s like the breath mint strips, except instead of delivering fresh breath, it’s medicine.
The Expansion and Investment
“We were in a bit of a pinch for laboratory space,” said Ryan Lorraine, the vice president of operations. In 2024, they launched a $10 million expansion that added 3,000 square feet of lab space. But they still needed more.
“We’re at office capacity today,” said Lorraine. “Almost every single available desk is filled.”
So they launched this second project, a $30 million expansion and renovation. Back in April, City Council approved a 2,600-square-foot addition to the LTS building at 232 Lothenbach. That expansion will mostly be lobby space, creating a more welcoming entrance to the building. But it’s not much for a 46,000-square-foot facility.
“The bulk of the investment is really going into making better use of that existing footprint,” said Lorraine.
More than an expansion, it’s really a renovation of about half of their current space. Between the previous project and this one, LTS expects to increase lab space by 70%, manufacturing space by 47%, and office infrastructure by more than 20%. There will also be updated utilities, technical infrastructure, and manufacturing equipment.
Between 2024 and when this project is completed in 2028, LTS will have invested a combined $40 million in West St. Paul.
Minnesota Impact
“I am proud that LTS continues to choose Minnesota as a national hub,” said Governor Walz. “Minnesota is open for business, and we’ll continue making the case on the international stage that there’s no better place to invest.”
Why West St. Paul? While Minnesota is certainly attractive from a medical technology, partnership, and proximity perspective, the innovative research and development team here in West St. Paul was really the driving factor. “We had another viable investment option in New Jersey,” said Lorraine. “However, with our established R&D organization already in West St. Paul and a broader strategy focused on strengthening centers of excellence across our network, we believed it made more sense to build on the expertise, collaboration, and capabilities that already exist here rather than fragment them across multiple locations.”
That innovative culture is spreading to LTS operations around the world: “Some of the best practices from the team here in West St. Paul are starting to influence the broader global culture,” said Lorraine.
More jobs: The expansion will include about 50 more jobs across the company, but especially in the high tech fields.
- “There’s going to be a lot of jobs created in the scientific and engineering disciplines to support that R&D work,” said Lorraine. “We anticipate a good number of those jobs will be chemists, biologists, engineering specialties like mechanical engineers and chemical engineers.”
- LTS already employs about 200 people in West St. Paul.
Local impact: LTS is working to expand their local partnerships. Last year they sponsored West St. Paul’s Cops in the Park and this year they’re supporting the annual Heroes and Helpers holiday shopping program for kids. As part of their ground breaking event, they brought in coffee and treats from Amore Coffee, floral arrangements from A Precious Petals Florist, and hosted a celebration event at FoodSmith.
“Community engagement is important for us,” said Lorraine. “If the entire community is growing, then our business has the opportunity to flourish here.”
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