Progress MN: Shutterfly

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Business: Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service

Based: 2800 Bridge Parkway, Redwood City, Calif.

Founded: 1999

CEO: Jeffrey Housenbold

Employees: 1,100

Economic impact: Shutterfly’s new Shakopee plant is expected to eventually add 329 full-time jobs and hundreds of seasonal jobs.

Website: www.shutterfly.com

Shutterfly’s new production hub is creating a lot of excitement in Shakopee.

“It’s a phenomenal project that is really good for our residents and for the region,” said Mayor Brad Tabke. “It’s a huge project and a really wonderful one for the community.”

The free online photo storage company allows users to print photos, greeting cards, bound photo books and other photo-related merchandise. The company offers seven separate brands:  Shutterfly, Tiny Prints, Wedding Paper Divas, Treat, ThisLife, MyPublisher and BorrowLenses.

Forbes selected Shutterfly as one of the nation’s best small companies, and it has been recognized by other organizations several times for its quality and service. The publicly traded company announced in February that its net revenue last year increased 22 percent to $783.6 million.

Tabke said the shell of the $60 million, 217,000-square-foot facility is close to complete and the facility will open this summer. The plant, which received a package of state and local subsidies worth $3.17 million, will eventually employ 329 full-time workers. Seasonal staff could add as many as 600 to 800 people during such busy periods as Christmas, he said.

Greater MSP, a regional economic development group, has reported that full-time jobs will pay in the low $40,000 range. Why Shakopee? “We evaluated a number of states and we thought [that] Minnesota was the best,” Shutterfly CEO Jeffrey Housenbold told investors in a conference call last year.

More than a few “grandmas and grandpas” have told Tabke that they welcomed the opportunity to have an employer in Shakopee who would have short-term, part-time jobs they may be able to fill.

Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. US Inc. designed and owns the building, which is in the Dean Lakes development on a 22.8-acre parcel southeast of Highway 169 and Canterbury Road. It’s between Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based QLogic Corp. and a future headquarters for Faribault-based Trystar, which provides custom cable and power solutions.

Tabke, who received many a Christmas card last year created using Shutterfly, said the project will be “good for us and it is good for the state.”