One of the world’s largest drugmakers is sizing up a massive bet on Houston.
Pharma giant Eli Lilly is planning a $5.9 billion investment for a massive pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in McCord Development’s Generation Park, a potential anchor for the city’s expanding life sciences sector, the Houston Business Journal reported.
The Indianapolis-based company applied for tax incentives through Texas’ new Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation program, which replaced the Chapter 313 incentive system. The application outlines a proposed capital investment of nearly $5.75 billion in facility development, plus an additional $150 million for land and equipment.
The project is expected to generate $2.4 billion in local tax revenue over a 10-year period, according to an economic impact statement filed with the state. Lilly’s site also sits within a Harris County tax increment reinvestment zone created last year.
The company is proposing a campus on 236 acres in McCord Development’s 4,300-acre Generation Park in northeast Harris County. The project would be one of four new U.S. manufacturing sites the company is evaluating to ramp up production of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Eli Lilly is still reviewing U.S. sites and has not made a final decision.Â
The site would include multiple buildings, manufacturing and support facilities and employ an average of 2,100 construction workers annually over five years. Once operational, the facility would house 604 full-time employees across roles in operations, engineering, quality assurance and administration.
If built, the project would mark a major win for McCord Development, which has worked in recent years to position Generation Park as a hub for biotech and advanced manufacturing.Â
The firm partnered with San Jacinto College and Ireland’s National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training to establish a biotech workforce pipeline. That effort, led by the Center for Biotechnology at Generation Park, is set to be completed this summer.
— Judah Duke
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