Idexx Laboratories announced plans Tuesday to build a $60 million corporate headquarters that could accommodate 700 new employees in Westbrook.

The project is scheduled to start in September with construction of a $30 million, 107,000-square-foot building that will house offices for a 300-person administrative staff, a fitness center and a food service area. It is expected to open in August 2013 next to the company’s existing facility on Eisenhower Drive.

The timing for the second phase, an adjacent 100,000-square-foot administrative building for 400 employees, depends on how fast the company continues to grow, said Dick Daigle, director of facilities for Idexx, which makes veterinary testing products.

Idexx originally said in 2008, after Pike Industries announced an expansion of its quarrying operations nearby, that it had been planning to build its corporate headquarters in Westbrook.

But Idexx said at the time that having an active quarry so close to its headquarters would be incompatible with its image and didn’t match what the city had said was its vision for a high-tech business park.

The company put the headquarters on hold as the high-profile conflict played out in front of local boards and in court.

Last fall, the city, Idexx and Pike reached a consent agreement that put restrictions on the Spring Street quarry and gave Idexx the assurances it needed to move forward with its expansion.

Mayor Colleen Hilton said she was “just absolutely thrilled” about Idexx’s announcement Tuesday. She said the new jobs could benefit the city by employing local residents and bringing more people into Westbrook who would spend money there.

Keith Luke, Westbrook’s economic and community development director, said Idexx continues to be “a poster child for our business attraction efforts” in both the city and the region, and the expansion only reaffirms that.

“If Idexx can grow and succeed here, we know other businesses can as well,” he said.

Idexx had fewer than 200 employees when it moved from Portland to Eisenhower Drive in Westbrook in 1991, Daigle said. The company now employs 1,400 people at that site, another 300 on Thomas Drive in Westbrook and 4,800 worldwide.

Hilton said it’s particularly gratifying to watch Idexx expand again, just as Pike is gearing up to expand its Spring Street quarry.

Although Idexx has moved past its conflict with Pike, at least one other nearby business still has its own expansion on hold because of the quarry plans.

Artel Inc., along with Smiling Hill Farm, is appealing the consent agreement in Maine Supreme Judicial Court because they don’t believe it restricts Pike’s blasting activity enough. Daigle said Idexx is confident the outcome of that case won’t affect its plans.

George Rodrigues, Artel’s senior scientific manager, said the company, which manufactures instruments for measuring liquids, purchased a second building in Westbrook’s Five Star Industrial Park in 2008 to accommodate its growth. It will be used for storage until there’s a court ruling, he said.

“It’s our hope that we can stay in Westbrook,” Rodrigues said. “We can’t commit to that until the legal proceedings are settled.”

Staff Writer Leslie Bridgers can be contacted at 791-6364 or at: lbridgers@mainetoday.com