UCB HQ expansion will be $47.5M investment

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Permit fees of $180,950 have been waived by Smyrna officials for the expansion of UCB Headquarters — a $47.5 million investment and 100 more employees with average annual salaries of more than $100,000.

This decision was made by a 7-0 vote on May 4 by the Smyrna City Council.

UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for people living with severe immunological and neurological conditions, according to Duane H. Barnes, president and head of U.S. Operations for UCB, Inc. Barnes said UCB is the largest biopharmaceutical company in Georgia.

For the last 16 years, UCB’s U.S. headquarters has been in Smyrna on a 47-acre corporate campus at 1950 Lake Drive. There, UCB has five buildings of more than 110,000 square feet of workspace and greater than 400 employees.

This facility is “a vital resource” for UCB’s global operations, including UCB’s headquarters in Belgium, Barnes added.

To add office space, UCB officials plan to begin work this summer with completion by the summer or fall of 2022.

UCB’s 2050 building will be renovated to include more than 60,000 square feet of new workspace that will be both WELL and LEED certified — a first for Georgia, Barnes said.

The total capital investment of Phase 1 for this project is expected to be $23.5 million over the next year and a half. Phases 2 and 3 are anticipated to add an additional $24 million in construction and infrastructure investment.

By 2022, Barnes said UCB plans to add more than 100 additional employees for an estimated total corporate workforce of 500 — with average annual incomes of more than $100,000 — who will be working at and living near UCB’s headquarters in Smyrna.

Information: ucb-usa.com/ Responsibility/coronavirus-updates