Bloomington's Sick plans advance.

Byline: Matt M. Johnson

A German sensor maker is ready to pay $5 million for a chunk of Bloomington redevelopment land where it might start construction on a new U.S. headquarters by next spring.

The U.S. division of Sick Sensor Intelligence is scheduled to sign a letter of intent with the city of Bloomington this week. The agreement would put the company on track to build up to 577,000 square feet of space on 14.35 acres of city-owned land at2501, 2601 and 2701 American Blvd. E. and 2600 Lindau Lane.The planned four-phase, $100 million project would include production space, warehousing and office space, according to a city staff report.

Sick and the city are scheduled to sign off on the letter of intent Tuesday night, after the company in May delayed action on rezoning the property and moving ahead with approvals for a preliminary development plan, a final development plan and conditional use permit requests. The letter spells out the company's intention to buy 5.95 acres in the northeastern portion of the redevelopment site with an initial $5 million payment.

The first phase of the project would rise on the land and would be complete by the spring of 2021, said Schane Rudlang, administrator of the Bloomington Port Authority. That initial phase would include mostly single-story production and logistics space, as well as 20,000 square feet of office space.

Sick's headquarters would bring industrial and office uses to the South Loop, which has recently seen apartment, tech office space, hotels and retail space built over the past couple of decades. The Mall of America is inside the district.

Having a diverse mix of land uses is what the city wants to see in the South Loop, Rudlang said in a Monday interview.

"We think it adds to continuing the mix of land use out there," he said of Sick's plan.

Sick has a Bloomington facility at 6900 110th St. W. since 1997 in a 52,000-square-foot building the company owns, according to a city staff report. The company...