St. Louis County is getting another big business development.
Pfizer is partnering with Clayco and CRG for a new $200 million facility in Chesterfield. Clayco and its real estate subsidiary CRG will construct and own the building, while Pfizer will have a long-term lease.
The biopharmaceutical company has 450 employees at two facilities in the St. Louis region, and plans to create 80 new positions for the new facility.
St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger said it is one of the biggest investments in county history and comes on the heels of other recent big announcements, including Centene’s expansion in downtown Clayton.
“Since I took office we’ve been reaching out, I think, like never before to our local business leaders and we’re encouraging them to stay in St. Louis and grow in St. Louis,” Stenger said, “and this is one of those examples when a company is choosing to strengthen its position right here in St. Louis County.”
The county is offering a tax incentive package including some real estate and personal property tax abatement. Stenger said not all the details had been worked out, but they would be tied to Pfizer fulfilling its promise of adding 80 positions.
The state of Missouri also is offering Pfizer nearly $6 million in a tax incentive package if it meets the additional job projection. That includes $5 million through the Missouri Works program and $800,000 through the Missouri Works Training program.
Pfizer has been in the St. Louis region for more than 13 years. The company’s senior vice president of BioTherapeutics Research said the company has built a “world class” employee base in the region to do research.
He said the new facility will allow the company to expand its focus on biotherapeutics and vaccine development.
“We’re currently in leased space with Monsanto, so we’ll be moving into more state-of-the art, contemporary facilities to handle this work,” Ludwig said.
The construction is set to begin in 2017.
Once the facility is complete sometime in 2020, Pfizer will bring employees from its two sites under one roof.
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