Illume to move its headquarters to Maple Grove Business Park

Maple Grove's new 50-acre business park has found an anchor tenant.

Illume Holding Co., which produces candles and other personal fragrance products, recently announced plans to consolidate its operations into a 288,000-square-foot facility in the Arbor Lakes Business Park being developed by Duke Realty.

Bob Sandberg, vice president of power supply and business development for Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association (WH), said “the addition of Illume will help diversify the economy in the Arbor Lakes area, adding a new segment of development from the retail and apartments complexes which have driven development to date.”

In addition, Sandberg noted, “the addition of Illume candles and the future light industrial being developed by Duke creates a new class of jobs available in this section of Maple Grove, a benefit to all businesses in that area.”

WH serves 50,000 electric accounts in rural Wright and western Hennepin counties. The electric co-op is committed to improving the quality of life of its members the communities it serves. As part of this mission, WH partners with cities, economic development agencies and commercial development firms like Duke Realty to realize commercial and industrial development in its territory.

Sandberg pointed out that entities with large C&I loads, such as Illume, benefit all co-op members because they allow WH to leverage system costs across greater energy sales. WH is also working with Illume to explore load management options to further increase the value proposition for the co-op’s membership.

Illume is currently based in Bloomington, Minn., and sells its candles and other fragrance, bath and beauty products through big retailers like Target, Anthropologie and West Elm. The company plans to consolidate all of its operations at the Maple Grove site.

This move represents a $10.6 million investment by Illume. The company plans to add 85 new jobs in Maple Grove in the next two years.

The project is supported by a $175,000 Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development grant from the Job Creation Fund. It also received a $450,000 loan from the Minnesota Investment Fund, which has designated financing for manufacturing and technology companies based on the creation and retention of high-quality jobs.

Correction (4/22/19): The original version of this article listed a starting wage of $22/hr. In fact, the average wage is $22/hr.