KALAMAZOO, MI (AP) After looking into moving its world headquarters out of state, medical-equipment giant Stryker Corp. plans to build a new headquarters at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport.

Construction of the 75,000-sq.-ft. (6,968 sq m) building is to begin in June or July and be completed by summer 2006, said Stryker spokesman Patrick Anderson.

The company will purchase six acres of Kalamazoo County land and spend between $16 million and $20 million on the project. The county’s Board of Commissioners gave tentative approval to selling the land to Stryker.

A final sales agreement is contingent upon a property appraisal. The price must be agreed upon by Stryker, county officials, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Michigan Department of Transportation.

The land is next to Stryker’s current headquarters, which is a 35,000-sq.-ft. (3,252 sq m) building that it has been leasing since 1990. The new site is now a parking lot used by car-rental agencies at the airport.

Company executives considered locations outside the Kalamazoo area, particularly in northern New Jersey area, where its orthopedics division is located, Anderson told the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Also in Kalamazoo, the company is spending more than $61 million to build a 433,000-sq.-ft. (40,227 sq m) building to house its medical division and a 200,000-sq.-ft. (18,581 sq m) building to house part of its instruments division.

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