Beckman Coulter Life Sciences cuts ribbon, plans expansion

LOVELAND — The ribbon’s cut. Now, it’s time for expansion.

Beckman Coulter Life Science’s research and development facility in east Loveland was christened one minute on Thursday, and the next minute the firm’s site manager told gathered guests that it would be expanding.

Beckman Coulter, a worldwide company, innovates in the life sciences and health care industries. Its Loveland workforce devises equipment for those who might develop the next great disease cure, then manufactures that equipment or the device that downstream researchers might need to treat diseases. It simplifies and “automates complex biomedical testing,” according to a company description.

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Michael Scaer, senior director of research and development and site manager for the company, cut the ribbon at a ceremony Thursday. The company, while worldwide, is not new to the area. It has had a presence in Fort Collins and Loveland for many years. This month, it moved into a new, 56,000-square-foot facility in the Axis 25 flex-space development assembled by Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners at 4510 Byrd Drive; the building sits between Byrd and Interstate 25, just south of the Northern Colorado Regional Airport. Beckman Coulter occupies about half of one of the three buildings on the Axis site.

The facility includes collaborative workspace for researchers, scientists and computer professionals, along with laboratories that are largely off limits to the public because proprietary information is under development. 

The facility as it stands is a $10 million investment, Scaer said. 

“We came to Loveland five years ago with three dozen employees, and now we have 140 fulltime people,” he said.

That, soon, will change.

Scaer said the company will begin this year to plan and design a manufacturing facility to be attached to the new R&D space. Size of the manufacturing facility is not yet determined. Neither are the products that staff will produce there — a decision that will determine how much space is needed. A press statement predicted that construction could start as soon as the second quarter of the year.

As it stands, the other half of the Beckman building is available. So is the adjacent sister building, which is about 100,000 square feet. Scaer expects to occupy space in one or both.

He said the company anticipates having a workforce of 225 when it gets the manufacturing center up and operating.

“The relentless pursuit of innovation is what drives our business and our associates each and every day,” Suzanne Foster, president of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, said in a press statement. “We continue to be impressed by the talent community that exists in greater Loveland, which has fueled our growth in Colorado since we came here in 2018 with nearly three dozen associates.

“Our instruments are on the frontlines of major global research facilities, providing them with valuable automation solutions to accelerate answers for that next big breakthrough moment. We’re thrilled to be expanding in Loveland, where our growing team will play a key role in that evolution,” she said.

The Loveland facility includes collaborative spaces and a customer engagement center, where customers can try out and be trained on solutions that the company produces.