---

The walls of the Kendall Howard expansion project are already rising out of the landscape in Chisago City, as a groundbreaking event was held to mark the project kick-off.  

The goal is to occupy the 250,000 square foot facility by end of this year, according to the Ryan Companies project management team.  Numerous officials attending the ritual groundbreaking June 3  as cranes and trucks manuvered in the background.

Kendall Howard has experienced remarkable growth since opening its manufacturing facility in 2008, on Liberty Lane,  which will remain operational as well. 

The company is a specialized manufacturer of information technology products like server racks, cabinets, accessories, products for cable management  and more.

This latest expansion is to meet product demand growth that is projected to be 300 percent this year over last year, and 500 percent by 2027.  

Kendall Howard owner Randy Herreid stressed at the groundbreaking that employees are being brought on board now. There is  a need for employees the minute the new facility opens at the end of this year.  Those interested in engineering, operations, manufacturing, sales and administrative roles in the company are encouraged to look at the website kendallhoward.com.  The company launched a 24/7 help desk and operations center to coordinate field engineering staff, slated to be deployed in more than 20 states and a dozen countries, according to the company information sheet.

There is an on-site cafeteria as part of this expansion and training/classroom space as well as rooms designed to be used for tele-health and on-site care needs.

The county, city and school district collaborated on support for tax abatement financing making this multi-million dollar facility a reality.  The tax abatement agreement requires 105 new jobs to be maintained for two years at minimum.

---