Indianapolis medical device firm plans $26M HQ in Whitestown

Polymer Technology Systems Diagnostics, an Indianapolis-based company that makes handheld medical testing devices for cholesterol and blood sugar, announced plans Thursday to build a global headquarters in Whitestown where it will move its local operations.

The company said it would spend about $25.6 million on the new headquarters—$12.1 million to build the 135,000-square-foot facility and another $13.5 million to fill it with equipment. Construction has already begun at 4921 E. County Road 450 South in the AllPoints at Anson business park, and the building is slated to open next June.

PTS Diagnostics has about 150 employees at its Indianapolis headquarters at 7736 Zionsville Road on the city's northwest side, and another 86 employees at a facility in Sunnyvale, California.

Company officials said the new facility will allow the business to grow. In addition to the 150 employees who will relocate from Indianapolis to Whitestown next summer, PTS Diagnostics plans to add 50 to 70 more employees over the next three to five years. The employees are expected to make an average hourly wage of $42.64 per hour, according to documents filed with the town of Whitestown.

The company said jobs will involve the finance, marketing, chemistry, engineering and manufacturing sectors.

 Browning/Duke Realty, a joint venture between Browning and Duke Realty, is handling construction of the facility. Becknell Industrial is the developer.

The lease at PTS Diagnostics' facility in Indianapolis expires in 2019. Company officials said they considered growth options in California, Florida and elsewhere in Indiana before deciding on Whitestown.

Whitestown officials approved an incentive package that includes a seven-year, 70 percent tax abatement on real property and a 10-year, 80 percent abatement on personal property. About $1.97 million in real property and roughly $959,000 of personal property taxes will be abated, documents show.

The company will pay more than $870,000 in taxes during the abatement period.

PTS Diagnostics designs, manufactures and markets health care diagnostic products for distribution in 135 countries. Its signature products include the CardioChek blood testing devices and the A1CNow family of products. PTS was founded by a former Roche Diagnostics Corp. employee in 1992 and began taking angel investments in 1997.

The company was acquired by Changsha, China-based Sinocare Inc., a maker of blood-glucose-monitoring systems, in 2016 in a deal that could be worth at least $110 million and as much as $200 million if milestones are met.

PTS Diagnostics acquired its California manufacturing facility in 2013 and recently opened a sales office in Bangalore, India.

“PTS Diagnostics is still in high-growth mode, and our organization has evolved considerably in the past decade,” CEO Robert Huffstodt said in written comments. “As an organization, we pride ourselves on the ability to adhere to our core Hoosier values while scaling the business globally in accordance with growing demand and the expansion of our product lines.”