Type: Office
Addition size: 102,415 square feet
Tower height: Eight stories
Architect: Finn Daniels Architects
Details: Infinite Campus Inc., a 22-year-old maker of student data management software for schools across the country, is embarking on a major expansion project at its Blaine headquarters, highlighted by a new eight-story tower.
The tower, along with a new auditorium and parking structure, would be added to company's existing 110,000-square-foot, two-story office building, according to plans submitted to the city this month. The expansion would allow Infinite Campus to double its headquarters employees from 400 to 800 workers.
The privately held company says the campus' design is inspired by the U.S. space program and television's "Star Trek." The original building, finished in 2008, is dubbed "the Mothership" and is modeled after the starship Enterprise, with two wings spreading out from a central circular rotunda.
The new, 90,000-square-foot tower takes its architectural cues from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. It would feature a reinforced concrete basement to house a data center and would become one of the tallest structures in the north metro.
A 10,000-square-foot auditorium would connect the two buildings and be a meeting venue for up to 800 people. A new 460-space parking deck would be added.
Infinite Campus is also working with Blaine's park board to spur improvements at the adjacent Lochness Park, including the addition of new landscaping and a shelter.
Don Jacobson is a freelance writer in St. Paul. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.
