MEDINA, MN-Open Systems International Inc., a utility software and hardware company, has begun the construction of its new 100,000-square-foot corporate headquarters here. The company is spending about $20 million to relocate from about 40,000 square feet in Plymouth, MN.

Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson is building the facility, which will include office, engineering development, staging, warehouse, training and conference space on a 20-acre site. Project Manager Mark Miller tells GlobeSt.com that OSI employees are now squashed into two main buildings in Plymouth, with an additional training building. Just less than 200 will operate from the new Medina site, which will take one year to build. The software firm will own the building.

Plans call for the company to develop the overall site in a sustainable manner, Miller says, including prairie restoration, open spaces, walking trails, employee gardens and a geothermal system for building heating and cooling. “This is one of the few from-the-ground-up projects planned within the Twin Cities area,” he says. “There are plenty of vacant and underused properties around, but the company didn’t want high-bay office warehouses, and wanted their own parking area and own facility instead of leasing.”

The company will attempt to obtain LEED Gold certification, Miller says. It’s important for a project to be sustainable, but he says he worries that too many new facilities achieving LEED is starting to dilute the prestige of the program.“The LEED program has taken off, and has been absorbed well by the commercial real estate industry, and public entities such as the state of California are deciding to adopt those standards,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “Now, though, LEED is going to want to get more exclusive, which will make it harder to get certified.”