Officials OK new Merck manufacturing building
Fourth new building in just over a year
UPPER GWYNEDD » Another new building is in the works at the Merck complex in Upper Gwynedd.
Township officials voted ahead plans for a new production facility within the global drugmaker’s West Point complex last week.
“The proposed building will add about 74,000 square feet — it’s a two-story facility,” said Merck spokesman Greg Landis.
“The exterior is insulated metal-clad siding, that will match the existing building we just finished,” he said.
Over the past two years Merck has secured approvals for several new buildings and expansions, including expansion of their “Building 45” for labs and office space in October 2020, then permission in February 2021 for a new “Building 50” of roughly 101,000 square feet of manufacturing space, a new “Building 32” for freezer space approved in May 2021, then an expansion of the proposed Building 50 in August 2021.
On Nov. 16 Landis and a team from Merck showed the township commissioners the company’s latest project: a new “Building 63A” to be located roughly 1,300 feet from Broad Street and 1,500 feet from Garfield Avenue.
“We are far away from residents, and screened on both sides by tall buildings,” Landis said.
The building height is 65 feet, a mix of modular and stick-built construction, and the first floor will be used for manufacturing, loading docks and some utility space, while the second floor will be manufacturing, office and support space. As he spoke, Landis showed a series of slides depicting renderings of the building itself, a completed Building 63 approved in 2019 and slated to open next year, and the empty space now largely occupied by trailers where the new Building 63A will be
built.
“The project space around the building is very limited. We’re plugging into an existing hole we left on purpose, after knocking down a building in 2017,” Landis said.
“We have added parking, and added some minor landscaping around the area, to make it as nice as we can in the space allowed,” he said.
An aerial rendering included in the Merck presentation shows the new building sitting next to the existing one, and various other Merck buildings in the background, and Landis told the board that the sand coloring of the building in the rendering is not quite accurate.
“It’s not brown. We could not get the rendering to look silver, as it will complement the existing building,” he said. “You can see some of the 2,800 trees that are on the property now, and you can see that we are very well-landscaped around the property.”
Land development plans for the building were submitted to the township on September 10, an internal staff meeting was held with the application team the next week, and a site review was held at the location at the end of that month. The township’s planning commission discussed and approved the project in October, and the needed stormwater and sewer plans are currently in the process of seeking state approvals, Landis said.
“The building will hold, at the start, about 90 people, some of which will be new hires, some will come from other areas of the site,” he said.
Review letters from the township’s consultants have been received, and requested revisions made, he added, and review letters from the Montgomery County Planning Commission and township sewer engineer, fire marshal, and environmental advisory committee all received no comments. The Merck team is asking for a total of eight waivers, all consistent with prior Merck approvals, and all having to do with the needed approvals and securities to be filed with the township, which Landis said all are covered by the master development agreement Merck has with the township covering all projects on that site.
The only comments on the application came from commissioner Denise Hull, who said the presentation did not address new pedestrian walkways that would be added with the project, and she and board were “always excited to have more connectivity and walkability.”
“We really appreciate you being so thorough and working with us,” Hull said.
The board then voted unanimously to grant preliminary and final land development approval, including the requested waivers. In a separate vote, the board also approved several other requests from Merck to perform exterior and crane work on other buildings within the West Point complex; details are available in the board’s meeting materials packet for Nov. 16.
Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.