Emerson in Shakopee will add 400 jobs

The Shakopee City Council is considering a proposal tonight from Emerson Electronics to bring about 500 jobs to the city.

The company would take over an existing facility that's been empty for 13 years under a proposal.

Mayor Brad Tabke says about 400 new jobs and 100 transferred jobs would only be a starting point.

"It's a great thing for our community, and that's only occupying 300,000 of the 500,000 square feet of that building -- it's a gigantic building. So they have an extra 200,000 square feet to grow into that they fully plan to use and bring high quality jobs to Shakopee and the southwest metro," he said.

"This project has come up fairly quickly, as projects like these come about. We have a facility that's been sitting empty for 13 years, and since the economy has started to come back, we've had a lot of activity in Shakopee and a lot of great things going on, and so Emerson, as well as a couple other folks, has been looking at the property," Tabke said.

Emerson says it will manufacture metering technology for hydraulic equipment at the new plant. The company expects to begin operating the facility sometime next year, and employees working in engineering and manufacturing would earn annual salaries of between $55,000 and $64,000.

City, county and state officials are considering about $6 million dollars in incentives for the company.

(MPR reporter Matt Sepic contributed to this report.)

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