Building History and Use
Micro Control Company is a Minnesota manufacturer of test equipment for the electronics industry and a global leader in high-power burn-in systems for the semiconductor industry. As demand for its systems has grown, the company has realized a need for more room to build, test, and develop them.
The new headquarters provides 50 percent more space than the company’s previous facility, which has allowed a 40 percent increase in manufacturing capability along with expanded research and development areas. The building was designed to support collaboration between internal teams and customers, and is now running at full production capacity. Micro Control Company celebrated the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 14, 2026, attended by Ramsey County commissioners, Arden Hills city leaders, and representatives of Ryan Companies, the developer of the site.
The facility originally anticipated about 200 jobs. Speakers at the ribbon cutting said that number has grown past 300 and is still climbing, and the company expects employment growth of more than 20 percent over the next five years.
A First Building for Rice Creek Commons
Rice Creek Commons is a long-planned redevelopment of the former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant property in Arden Hills. Ramsey County acquired the land more than a decade ago with a plan to clean it up and transform it into a mixed-use district. Ryan Companies broke ground on the Micro Control Company headquarters in April 2025, making it the first vertical construction at the site.
The headquarters occupies roughly 10 acres of Outlot A, a 40-acre commercial parcel at the north end of the development near Interstate 35W. Future phases are planned to bring additional commercial buildings, new roads, residential neighborhoods, and public spaces. Because the headquarters came first, the choices made for its energy systems also help set the tone for what follows.
Why Geothermal?
Ryan Companies worked with Micro Control Company and the project partners to pursue a low-carbon, energy-efficient design for the headquarters. It was the first project approved under the sustainability design guidelines for Rice Creek Commons, which also earned LEED precertification. Geothermal heating and cooling was central to meeting those guidelines.
The building uses a hybrid approach that pairs the geothermal system with rooftop solar, so it runs almost entirely on electricity. A small amount of natural gas provides backup heating. According to the City of Arden Hills, the result is a building that is 55 percent more efficient than baseline and has reduced its carbon emissions by 98.8 percent.
A groundwater system also suited the scale of the project. A conventional closed-loop field sized for a 157,000-square-foot manufacturing and office facility would have required far more land than a development lot is designed to give up. Two Darcy wells deliver 350 tons of cooling and 1,360 MBH heating from a compact footprint, which leaves more of the site available for the building, parking, and future growth.
Design and Construction
Ryan Companies developed the project, with construction beginning in April 2025 and the building opening to full production in 2026. The two-well Darcy system connects to the building’s mechanical plant and works alongside the rooftop solar array and the natural gas backup to serve the full facility.
The schedule moved from groundbreaking to full production in roughly a year and a half, which is a pace that depends on mechanical systems being installed and commissioned in step with the rest of the building. Manufacturing and testing operations need steady, reliable conditioning, so the geothermal system was commissioned ahead of the company’s move-in.
Built for Growth
For a company that has outgrown its previous home and expects to keep adding people and production capacity, the headquarters is designed to scale with the business. The geothermal system supports that growth with predictable operating costs and a low-carbon energy source, and it gives Micro Control Company a visible role in the sustainability goals of the neighborhood forming around it.
As the first building at Rice Creek Commons, the headquarters also gives the development a working example of what its sustainability guidelines look like in practice, and a reference point for the commercial and residential projects that will follow.
