Atrium plans to expand new HQ even more when it moves from Hudson to Merrimack

Dec. 06--MERRIMACK -- The new headquarters for device manufacturer Atrium Medical Corp. will be even bigger, after the town's approval of an extra 11,000 square feet for the expansion of a former Fidelity Investments property at 40 Continental Blvd.

The Planning Board on Tuesday approved Atrium's request to add extra space to the 90,000-square-foot addition it already planned to make to the existing 115,000-square-foot facility. The addition will give the new headquarters a footprint of almost a quarter of a million square feet.

Atrium is moving its headquarters and production facility from Sagamore Industrial Park in south Hudson some time in the next year and a half.

It was in the 140,000-square-foot building on Wentworth Drive for 17 years, but is outgrowing that space.

It has said the move and extra space will let it add some 250 employees to its current 450 employees in the near future.

The Merrimack Planning Board approved the expansion in June.

"After that, (Atrium was) working with architects, looking at internal processes, warehousing, and did some reconfiguration," said Tim Thompson, Merrimack Community Development director.

The additional space on the addition's northeast corner required a shift in an emergency access drive and a modification of the parking area. It did not require any change to the stormwater management system.

The final plans will be brought back to the board in the next few weeks, and approval seems likely, after which construction can begin.

Atrium has been in southern New Hampshire since it was founded 31 years ago. It was bought in October 2011 for $680 million by Swedish company Getinge Group and its subsidiary, Maquet Cardiovascular.

Atrium develops and manufactures a variety of medical devices for the treatment of coronary and vascular disease, chest trauma, hernias and soft-tissue injury. It has international offices in England, Germany, France, India, Australia and the Netherlands.

David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531 or dbrooks@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, Follow Brooks' blog on Twitter (@GraniteGeek).

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