Written by Karl on September 15, 2012/Park Tool News

Park Tool to Build New Factory

The Park Tool Company broke ground on a new international headquarters on August 21st. The new site is just over a mile from their current location in Oakdale, a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. Move in is expected in January 2013.

At the official ground breaking ceremony, Oakdale City Administrator Craig Waldron said, “It is exciting to have a company with the international scope and prestige of Park Tool here in our city.”

“When we built the current facility 16 years ago, it was twice as big as the previous building.” Said Park Tool President Eric Hawkins. “We built an addition five years ago and now we’ve outgrown the entire facility. The new building will increase our office, manufacturing and warehousing space by nearly 75% with some additional real estate dedicated to future expansion.”

The new facility will be nearly 70,00 square feet and built on a 23-acre parcel. Along with increased storage space the new facility will house a photo studio, a larger R&D facility and room to expand in house manufacturing. “We’ve invested heavily over the past few years to bring more production back to our facility. We’re excited to have some breathing room so we can continue to expand and grow that part of our business as well as space to accommodate future growth. I expect we will see significant productivity gains in both the near and distant future.” Hawkins said.

Large group of men and women with hardhats, shoveling a large pile of dirt Ground Breaking 8-21-12
Large dirt lot with white truck on back of lot Grading 9-4-12
Digging, forming and pouring footings Digging, forming and pouring footings 9-7-12
Forming and pouring loading dock lower walls Forming and pouring loading dock lower walls 9-13-12
Back side of building loading docks under construction Back side of building loading docks 9-25-12
The first wall panels being set in place The first wall panels being set in place 10-15-12
Building under construction, steel overhang and cement walls The building is starting to take shape—wall panels going up and the structure for the office is being built 10-18-12
Roof being placed on new Park Tool building The roof is going on! 10-30-12
The walls are up and the roof is on, concrete floors have yet to be poured Getting ready to pour the concrete floors. The walls are up and the roof is on. 11-16-12
Pouring and finishing the warehouse floor. Pouring and finishing the warehouse floor. 11-29-12
Office walls taking shape. Office walls taking shape. 11-29-12
Inside of new Park Tool building, still under construction Just about finished painting the ceiling in the warehouse. 12-20-12
Front of the Park Tool building with cherry picker in the snow
Park Tool warehouse with boxes and large blue shelving Moving week has begun! 1-15-13
Front of Park Tool from the road during winter
Above shot of Park Tool warehouse with workbenches and shelves of boxes In our new home! Lots of bugs to work out, but we're up and running. 2-6-13