The Delaware Economic Development Authority unanimously approved a $19 million tax incentive package for a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec to build a manufacturing campus in New Castle County.
WuXi’s STA Pharmaceutical USA, a contract development and manufacturing company, will use the taxpayer funds to support the first phase of what could eventually total 1.74 million square feet of new manufacturing, lab and office space off Industrial Drive in Middletown. The initial development will involve 600,000 square feet of space across three or more buildings, though the number had yet to be finalized, said Dean Childers, who is overseeing the project for the company.
Construction of the first phase is expected to begin in 2022 and be completed and operational by 2024. The company expects to hire 479 people for that phase by 2026. There is a “broad range” of salaries for those positions and pay would start at $40,000 and go up from there, Childers said.
The project was overwhelmingly supported by economic and elected officials with Middletown Mayor Kenneth Branner calling it "one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to land a company like this.”
There was one critic of the incentive package. Amy LePore, who identified herself as part of the Libertarian Party, urged the authority to vote against it. "It's not the job of the taxpayer to bring jobs to Delaware," she said, noting that the state has made "failed investments" before when doling out taxpayer funds for companies.
The $19 million tax incentive package is among the largest Delaware has given to a company. In 1999, the state provided AstraZeneca $50 million in incentives to lure its headquarters from the Philadelphia suburbs to Wilmington. The company, which once employed 5,000 in the state, now has 1,500 working from Wilmington.
In 2010, the state awarded Fisker Automotive $21.5 million in tax incentives to build hybrid vehicles at the former General Motors plant on Boxwood Road in Wilmington. Fisker filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
To that end, Rick Rowland, a member of the economic development authority, confirmed that STA’s parent company, China-based WuXi AppTec, would be involved in any clawback provisions Delaware authorities could use if it doesn’t meet certain job and other thresholds.
STA began its search last summer, having contacted Select Greater Philadelphia as part of its site selection process. Select is part of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce that helps retain and attract companies to the tri-state area. A representative from the chamber did not respond to a request for comment.
The search was dubbed Project Dragonfly and the company then worked with the Delaware Prosperity Partnership once it had narrowed down its location. The Middletown campus will bolster the company’s supply chain and complement a similar manufacturing facility it has in San Diego, Childers said.
If the entire projected 1.74 million square feet is developed, roughly 1,200 people could work from it. STA is also seeking $2 million in grants from DelDOT for road improvements to the site.
WuXi AppTec has a growing Philadelphia presence. It leases 372,000 square feet of space at the Philadelphia Navy Yard where it maintains its cell-and-gene therapy contract testing, development and manufacturing facilities. Its WuXi Advanced Therapies is also based in Philadelphia and the company's affiliated WuXi Biologics leases 33,000 square feet at the Discovery Labs in King of Prussia.
