St. Jude’s Medical & Moog Inc. To Build Plants in Alajuela

U.S. companies St. Jude’s Medical and Moog Inc. are set to begin construction on new facilities in the El Coyol free trade zone, in Alajuela, northwest of San José.

St. Jude’s Medical and Moog Inc. develop and produce medical supplies and equipment.

St. Jude’s Medical, which is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, has invested $40 million in the construction of three production plants. The first plant is expected to be 65,000 square feet and should be completed in 2010. Once the first plant is completed, St. Jude’s, which creates instruments primarily for heart and brain health, expects to begin construction of two more buildings in the same area that together would cover over 325,000 square feet.

Moog Inc., an engineering firm that works primarily in the engineering of aircraft and industrial parts, is constructing a medical supplies development plant in the same area. Moog Inc. has invested $3.5 million dollars in a plant to build medical ambulatory pumps and feeding pumps.

The new plants will be located in the same area as two other medical suppliers, Hologic and BeamOne. Continental AG, a German automotive company, and Sense & Flavors, a food company, also have locations in the El Coyol free trade zone. Since the zone opened in 2007, there has been an infrastructure investment of over $100 million.

Construction of the plants is expected to be completed in 2010. Once ready for operation, the locations are expected to create 2,000 new jobs.

–Adam Williams