Medtronic picks San Antonio as site of medical device unit

Medical-device manufacturer Medtronic Inc. announced today that it has selected San Antonio, TX as the site of an expansion of its diabetes business unit.

The San Antonio location beat out two competing sites in the Kansas City area, including the Applebee’s Services Inc. headquarters in Lenexa, that had been in contention for the expansion, which is expected to add 1,300 jobs to the San Antonio area.

The announcement of the Medtronic site selection was made at a ceremony attended by Gov. Rick Perry in San Antonio on Monday afternoon.

The Medtronic facility will be located at a mixed-use development known as The Rim. Minneapolis-based Medtronic’s diabetes division, which makes insulin pumps, glucose monitoring devices and diabetes-management software, is one of Medtronic’s fastest-growing businesses. The unit already employs 1,500 people in Northridge, Calif., just outside Los Angeles, but reportedly doesn’t have room to expand there.

In March, Medtronic officials confirmed that Kansas City and San Antonio were the final competitors for the expansion after a nine-month search. One the sites in Kansas City that had been considered was the 178,000-square-foot Applebee’s facility in Lenexa’s Southlake Technology Park.