May 14, 2026, Cemstone Companies is relocating its Delano ready-mix concrete plant to the West Metro Business Park, launching an eight-figure investment that city officials say has been nearly two decades in the making. 

The Mendota Heights-based company is moving it’s Delano plant from its longtime location near Highway 12 to a new facility at 1015 McKinley Parkway. 

Cemstone held a groundbreaking April 13 attended by city officials, company executives and representatives from Greystone Construction Company, the project’s builder, and ISG Inc., the architectural and engineering firm. 

Timothy Becken, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said the Highway 12 plant had run out of room. 

“We just had outgrown our site,” he said. 

The Highway 12 plant, which opened in 1987, was purchased by Cemstone in 1999.  Becken said the facility was built when the surrounding area was still township land.  The city later annexed that portion, leaving an industrial operation in a corridor that has since developed around it. 

Becken said the company also needed a new, more modern facility.  “We were just needing more room that also allowed us to expand our presence and increase out capabilities,” Becken said. 

The new facility will expand Cemstone’s ready-mix operation and add a concrete recycling yard and warehousing space for sealers and other supplies sold to contractors and homeowners. 

Becken said construction is expected to finish by the end of 2026, with the plant fully operational approximately a year later. A development agreement with the city requires completion by spring 2027. 

He said that project represented “an eight-figure investment” in the community but declined to give the exact amount. 

Becken said the move would retain current staff and add three or four positions, including drivers, plant workers and a mechanic with hiring expected to take place in the winter of 2026-27. 

Once construction is complete, Cemstone will demolish the Highway 12 facility.  The city’s Economic Development Authority will then control the site and take proposals for its redevelopment. 

The land deal was a property swap, Becken said.  City Administrator Phil Kern said the EDA sold Cemstone the West Metro Business Park parcel for cash and received the Highway 12 site in return. 

Kern said the city is using tax increment financing, or TIF, from the business park property to cover street and utility costs and may consider TIF for redevelopment of the Highway of the Highway 12 site as well.  “This work to relocate Cemstone has been in discussions for almost 20 years and many people have been involved,” Kern said. 

The Cemstone plant is the eighth project in the West Metro Business Park since 2019.  Four development sites remain.  Kern said the park has exceeded tax base projections and reduced the city’s reliance on residential and commercial revenue. 

Delano made sense for the expansion, Becken said.

“Delano is a great growing community with good access to Highway 12 which allows us to serve the West Metro market,” he said.  ” Reinvesting in a new facility in Delano just makes sense.”

The potential for future rail access factored into the site selection.  Becken said rail service for incoming materials was not a requirement but influenced the decision.   

“It wasn’t a must-have, but it was definitely a motivator for picking the site that we did,” Becken said. 

He said Cemstone sells its products locally and sees its role as being a good neighbor, understanding the needs of the community and providing building materials that help the city grow. 

The company has supplied concrete for serval recent Delano projects, including Kingston Auto, Culver’s Restaurant, the Delano Municipal Ballpark, Landscape Structures and the Highway 12 center barrier wall. 

“Keeping Cemstone in the community and providing a place for them to expand their regional presence will help our local economy,” Kern said. 

Cemstone has been a family-owned company for four generations.  Thor Becken, the chief executive officer and Timothy’s brother, said at the April 13 ceremony that a fifth generation is now working for the company. 

The company operates ready-mix plants in three states and in about 12 states total, with roughly 100 concrete plants and between 1,100 and 1,200 employees, Thor Becken said. 

The new Delano plant is expected to reach full operation in 2027, the same year Cemstone marks its 100th anniversary.