Drug firm to build plant, hire 77
Nexus Pharmaceuticals buys Pleasant Prairie land
An Illinois-based pharmaceutical developer said Wednesday it will build a drug-making plant in Pleasant Prairie that initially will cost $85 million and employ 77 people.
Nexus Pharmaceuticals Inc. will locate the 100,000-square-foot factory on 16 acres the company has purchased from the Village of Pleasant Prairie just west of I-94 and north of Highway 165.
The jobs will pay an average of $70,000 a year, Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement announcing the project.
Nexus, which specializes in developing injectable generic drugs used in such areas as anesthesia, oncology and neurology, plans to invest a total of $250 million in the Pleasant Prairie complex over 10 years. The additional spending will come as the company adds production lines, CEO Mariam Darsot said Wednesday after unveiling the project at an event attended by Evers, local government officials and economic development executives.
“We will increase from two lines to four and then from four to six,” Darsot said. With the additional production will come additional employment, she said.
Nexus, which has headquarters and research facilities in Lincolnshire, Illinois, now employs 58 people. Darsot declined to disclose annual sales.
The firm currently contracts with
other companies to manufacture its drugs. The Wisconsin factory would be its first.
Economic development specialists in Wisconsin started courting Nexus in early to mid-2018. The company considered expanding in Lincolnshire, but that community lacked appropriate sites, Darsot said.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has authorized up to $1.5 million in tax credits for Nexus. The amount the firm receives will depend on the number of jobs it creates and its level of capital investment over the next four years.
Construction of the $85 million first phase of the project will begin in August and is be completed by 2021. Drug production is expected to begin in 2022.
The site is part of the Prairie Highlands Corporate Park being developed by the Village of Pleasant Prairie. Besides Nexus, the business park so far has attracted German gummy bear maker Haribo, which plans to build a 600,000-square-foot factory and office complex initially employing some 400 people, and Advocate Aurora Health, which is building a $130 million surgery center and medical office complex.
Positioned at the northern edge of the Chicago area, Kenosha County has long attracted firms relocating from Illinois. More recently, the county has become a distribution hub, with huge warehouses sprouting along I-94, most notably those of digital retailer Amazon and locally based Uline Inc., a distributor of shipping and packaging materials.
Besides WEDC, organizations working to attract Nexus included the Milwaukee 7, the Kenosha Area Business Alliance and the Village of Pleasant Prairie.