By: Marisa Helms April 8, 2016 2:00 am

Product: Biomaterials manufacturing Based: 3515 Lyman Blvd., Chaska Founded: 1965 President: Larry Hiebert Employee count: 241 Website: www.lifecore.com

Biomaterials manufacturer Lifecore Biomedical specializes in pharmaceutical-grade sodium hyaluronate, a hydrophilic polymer used in a variety of medical specialties including ophthalmology, orthopedics and oncology.

Currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Landec Corporation — an agricultural company based in Menlo Park, California — Lifecore Biomedical recently announced it would expand its 114,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Chaska by 25,000 square feet. The company also leased 66,000 square feet about a mile down the road. The additional space will house a medical manufacturing clean room and a quality-control lab.

Lifecore Biomedical President Larry Hiebert says the $16 million expansion also makes room for the creation of about 68 high-paying jobs with Lifecore over the next three years.

“The expansion is clearly indicative to our past growth and the foreshadowing of how we see that continuing,” says Hiebert, who has worked for Lifecore Biomedical for 32 years, “starting at the very bottom,” as he puts it. He has been president for nearly three years.

Lifecore Biomedical’s expansion project has received $834,000 in support from the Job Creation Fund of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, and nearly $145,000 in tax abatements from the city of Chaska.

“I’m all about results,” says Hiebert, adding that the company’s products have improved the lives of more than 50 million patients worldwide. ”You deliver results and you can get the investment support you need.”

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