MAPLEWOOD,MN-3M Co. has begun moving dirt at its Maplewood campus for a new $150-million research and development center.

The new lab, to be known as Building# 280, is projected to house 700 scientists and researchers, according to 3M Chief Technology Officer Fred Palensky. Construction on the new building, which will replace two older laboratory buildings on the opposite side of its campus here, will be finished by the fall of 2015, according to the Star Tribune.

The project will include a four-story, 400,000-square-foot building that will provide research for 3M's electrical and energy, safety and graphics, and industrial businesses. The building will connect by skyway to 3M's adjacent Healthcare Research and Development and Business Center.

“The primary focus here is to maintain the vitality of [3M's] innovation and technology,” Palensky says. See story in the Star Tribune.