One thing is for sure, when officials from The Toro Co., gathered recently to break ground on a $25 million expansion of its headquarters in Bloomington, Minn., they don't have to search far for equipment.
Company personnel along with local elected officials congregated Sept. 5 to celebrate the 75,000-square-foot expansion of the company's product development and test capacities.
Toro chairman and chief executive officer Michael J. Hoffman took the first scoop of dirt from the controls of, what else, a Toro backhoe.
"We are investing in our Bloomington facility to enable our businesses to continue to meet the needs of our customers," Hoffman said. "With the anticipated growth of our businesses, through ongoing product development and the addition of recent acquisitions taking us into new markets, this investment will help to expand our technical capacity and further the innovation our customers expect. As we celebrate our Centennial next year, this project will help position us for the future and reinforce our commitment to innovation, our customers, and our employees."
The project is scheduled for completion next summer. Toro moved to its Bloomington location in 1952 when it opened a research and development facility. Company headquarters were moved to Bloomington in 1962. The last major addition to the facility came in 1997. The construction effort is being led by Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. Visitor on hand for the groundbreaking included Minnesota Gov. Mark Drayton and Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead.
The current headquarters combines more than 400,000 square feet of office, research and development and manufacturing space for almost 1,000 employees.