In the closing days of the 2026 election campaign, business leaders and some politicians have emphasized the need for greater growth of Minnesota’s economy.

On Wednesday, the city of Eagan announced that its city council has approved Ecolab’s development plans to invest $500 million in its research and development campus at 655 Lone Oak Drive that’s named after former Ecolab CEO Allan L. Schuman.

In announcing the council’s action, the city of Eagan said that Ecolab’s “multi-year project will elevate the campus into one of the world’s most advanced centers for research, development, and innovation.”

Ecolab, which does business in 170 countries and generated $16.1 billion in revenue in 2025, has many location options for expanding its business operations.

In a candid interview with Twin Cities Business earlier this year, Ecolab CEO Christophe Beck said the decision to make this substantial investment in Minnesota was done with a “leap of faith.”

Beck, who is one of the most outspoken CEOs in Minnesota, is working with other corporate executives and elected officials to make Minnesota a more “business-friendly” state and to increase the pace of economic growth, which would produce an expanding tax base to support education, roads, and other public goods.

Ecolab is demonstrating its long-term commitment to the state with the $500 million expenditure on its Eagan campus. With its headquarters in downtown St. Paul, Ecolab recently invested in upgrading the plaza and exterior spaces around its building. It also pledged $3 million last year to support emergency housing services in Ramsey County.

“For more than a century, Ecolab has called Minnesota home, and this investment represents our confidence in what comes next,” Beck said in a written statement Wednesday. “We are building the future of infection prevention in Eagan, creating a global destination where the brightest scientific minds can work alongside our customers to accelerate breakthrough innovation that protects people from infection.”

The city of Eagan noted that Ecolab’s 89-acre campus has been an important part of Eagan’s business community for a long time. In 1989, it was originally developed as the headquarters of Cray Research. Ecolab acquired the property in 2004.

Work on the Ecolab project is expected to span from 2027 through 2030. Ecolab intends to add 105,000 square feet to its current facility, which would bring the total building space to about 725,000 square feet.

Plans call for enhanced laboratories, customer experience areas, employee amenities, and infrastructure that supports new opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

“What we develop here will have an impact far beyond Minnesota, helping protect 2 billion people from infections and enough drinking water for 1 billion people,” Beck said in the Wednesday statement.

“The project will also create a more modern and connected campus through revitalized outdoor and gathering spaces, infrastructure improvements, and regenerative systems including geothermal energy and provisions for future solar capabilities,” the city said in its announcement.

“Ecolab’s continued investment is a clear sign of the confidence businesses have in Eagan and its future,” Eagan mayor Mike Maguire said in a Wednesday news release. “Projects like this strengthen our tax base and support economic opportunity. It’s this kind of investment that continues to make Eagan a successful city and a strong community.”