SARTELL -- A long time Sartell business broke ground on their new 70,000 square-foot expansion Tuesday morning.

Toppan Merrill is planning to build 14,000 square-feet of office space and over 56,000 square-feet of additional production space to the existing building.

Mike Zimny is the Vice President of Operations at Toppan Merrill. He says this project has been in the works for about three years.

It gives us the opportunity to not only have our employees in one place, but now we have the opportunity to take on new business. Three years ago we were at the point where we need the space, now our employees can do their jobs the way they want to and be efficient.

Governor Tim Walz was in attendance at the ground breaking. He says projects like this speaks volumes for longtime businesses staying in their community and growing with them.

I think it's important to publicly celebrate collaboration. This was a private business working with local and state folks to create these good jobs. We are just here to say thanks to them and throw our support behind it.

The project will cost about $6-million and create roughly 40 new jobs over the next three years.

Zimny says the original project called for a 130,000 square-foot expansion, but changed plans to build what fits their needs now.

If the expansion goes well, Zimny says there could be future 60,000 square-foot expansion in the next five years.

Toppan Merrill has been operating in Sartell since 2001. If things go well, they hope to have the project completed by April.

 

More From AM 1240 WJON