A pharmaceutical giant is spending $3.5B on a manufacturing plant in one of Pennsylvania’s top industrial markets in what has been dubbed the largest life sciences investment in the state's history.
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Eli Lilly and Co. is plotting a 925K SF factory across several buildings at the Fogelsville Corporate Center in Upper Macungie Township, according to press releases from the company and from the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.
The facility, focused on weight-loss devices and injectable medicines, is expected to bring 850 permanent jobs to the community. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year and wrap up in 2031.
“Lilly Lehigh Valley — our newest injectable medicine and device manufacturing facility — will increase access to next-generation weight-loss treatments and improve the domestic supply of essential medicines for current and future patients,” Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations, said in a statement.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a statement that his administration's work to cut red tape and expand the state's workforce has helped Pennsylvania compete for big projects like this.
“Lilly's commitment to the Lehigh Valley and to Pennsylvania will bring billions of dollars of investment and hundreds of good-paying jobs, solidifying our position as a leader in the growing life sciences industry,” he said.
LVEDC’s release called Lilly’s plans “the largest single economic development project” in the Lehigh Valley’s history and the largest life sciences investment in the state's history.
It is far from the only company that sees promise in the region’s life sciences sector.
Peli BioThermal inked a 90K SF lease at 1215 Hausman Road in Allentown in the fourth quarter, according to Savills. That was the second-largest lease in the brokerage’s Philly life sciences report, behind only the 624K SF GSK took at 105 Willow Springs Lane in Reading, which is sometimes considered a peripheral part of the Lehigh Valley.
Lilly has been making many big real estate moves in recent months. The company says this is the fourth new U.S. manufacturing facility it has announced over the past year.
The company also built a 44K SF incubator lab space at 22nd and Market streets in Philadelphia. There is enough space for six to eight firms in the building, and move-ins are expected to start this quarter.
Lilly also teamed up with Nvidia to invest $1B in an artificial intelligence-powered lab outside San Francisco earlier this month.
These followed the pharma giant’s $6.5B investment in a manufacturing facility at Houston’s Generation Park and its move to double its footprint in a Boston Seaport building to 150K SF.
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