Thursday’s stormy weather paused long enough for Lehigh Valley officials to join the head of Eli Lilly and Co. and Gov. Josh Shapiro to officially kick off construction of the $3.5 billion pharmaceutical plant in Upper Macungie Township.
On hand for the groundbreaking was Don Cunningham, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., who said this project, along with Chobani’s $1.2 billion investment for a hub in Upper Macungie that was announced in the summer, could be a sign of things to come.
“The Lilly announcement has opened discussions with life sciences companies and manufacturers that we’ve been previously having,” Cunningham said. “While nothing is imminent, the opportunities have broadened from these names. You know, our biggest challenge today is not interest in the market — it’s finding the right locations.”
Getting Lilly and Chobani on board has brought interest from other big businesses, though Cunningham didn’t reveal any names.
“It’s very different from how things were,” he said. “Hopefully, we can have some [announcements] next year.”
Several local officials crowded into a tent set up in the middle of the project area, a former farm field between Interstate 78 and Old Route 22 just west of Fogelsville. The complex will include an 800,000-square-foot manufacturing facility along with a visitors center, administrative offices and an automated warehouse on 150 acres.
When fully operational, the plant will employ about 850 people. Meanwhile, it will take about 2,000 workers to build it.
Dirt has already been turned at the site, and heavy construction equipment was sitting near the tent.
Lilly Chair and CEO David Ricks said the plant will manufacture next-generation injectable medicines, including treatments for obesity, diabetes and related chronic conditions. He expected to be fully up and running by 2030, if not sooner.
Ricks credited a friendlier economic environment on both the state and federal levels for Lilly’s investing $50 billion in the Lehigh Valley and nine other new U.S. sites.
He added that quality will be important, and that people will always come before technology.
“Quality is our first priority in every manufacturing site,” Ricks said. “And Lehigh Valley will build on that discipline with machine learning, AI and digitally integrated systems from Day 1. This site will be the most technically advanced — not just at Lilly, but in the industry. And it’s important to note that at these sites, technology will be working for the people who work here and run it, not the other way around.”
Shapiro, who just won reelection as governor, said the Lilly investment has been on people’s minds.
“I mentioned a big investment that Lilly is making here in our region, and a dude in the back row screams out, ‘Go Lilly!’ And I thought, oh, that’s infused itself into the culture,” he said. “You typically do not hear people cheering for pharmaceutical companies in remarks.”
Cunningham said it’s part of the Lehigh Valley’s culture.
“In the Lehigh Valley, we kind of live in the shadows of Philadelphia and New York — we’ll never have our own major league sports team,” he said. “We cheer for manufacturers. Mack Trucks, Crayola, B. Braun, Martin Guitars — and now we cheer for Lilly.”
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.