Ottobock Healthcare LP announced March 31 the company will relocate its North American regional headquarters to The Domain, a move expected to create 110 jobs and result in a $4.6 million investment.

Karen Lundquist, the company's North American communications director, said Ottobock will occupy 40,000 square feet in the Domain 7 office building that is under construction at 11501 Alterra Parkway, which is across the street from IBM Corp.'s Austin campus. The company will not receive any incentives from the city or state for the relocation, according to the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Ottobock produces technologically advanced prostheses, braces and orthotics to restore and improve independence for people with mobility challenges. The North American headquarters is moving from Plymouth, Minn., a northwest suburb of Minneapolis.

Employees will start moving to Austin in the next couple of months, Lundquist said. She said the company likely chose the Northwest Austin location during a visit to Hanger Inc., which also has an office in The Domain and is Ottobock's largest customer.

"Our timeline is a phased one," she said. "Initially, we will have a small, temporary location so that our Minneapolis staff who are relocating and our newly recruited Austin staff will have a home. We hope to move into our new location in October and to finalize our headquarters shift south by the end of the year."

Lundquist said the move will improve the company's ability to attract employee talent, among other reasons for the relocation.

"We are planning aggressive growth and change in the organization in the coming decades, and we want to change our environment to support that growth," Lundquist said. "We believe that Austin has a unique combination of a global workforce, an attractive business environment and a penchant for technology and creativity."

Ottobock is a welcomed new member of the area's life sciences community, said Pete Winstead, shareholder at Winstead PC and chairman of Opportunity Austin, which is focused on job creation in the five-county Central Texas region of Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties.

"The region's growing list of innovative companies, particularly in this sector of our medical device industry cluster, is leading the charge in defining Austin as a leading orthopedic/spine hub," he said in a news release. "With continued growth and the future Dell Medical School and Innovation [Zone], this is an exciting time for Austin's life science community."

The company was originally founded in 1919 in Duderstadt, Germany, as Otto Bock Healthcare, according to the news release. In 1958, Ottobock was created as the Americas corporate headquarters of that original company.