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Drugmaker Eli Lilly announces $1B new plant in Concord

Drugmaker Eli Lilly is building a new $1 billion manufacturing plant in Concord.
Eli Lilly
Drugmaker Eli Lilly is building a new $1 billion manufacturing plant in Concord.

Drugmaker Eli Lily announced Friday it’s investing $1 billion to build a new manufacturing plant in Cabarrus County at the site of the old Philip Morris plant.

During a virtual announcement, Eli Lilly Senior Vice President Michael Mason said the company is working on new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and Type 2 diabetes. He said the 800,000 square-foot facility will produce injectable drugs and devices,

The Indianapolis-based company said it will create nearly 600 jobs at the new plant. The average salary is expected to be about $70,000.

Construction is scheduled to start this year. That will create roughly 500 jobs.

“This will change the landscape of biotech in this part of our state,” said Cabarrus Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Page Castrodale in a news release. “It expands North Carolina’s life sciences industry into the Charlotte region in a very transformative way, bringing tremendous opportunity with it.”

The company will receive roughly $17 million in state tax rebates for the plant and city and county incentives worth $75 million.

Eli Lilly is already building a drug manufacturing facility in the Research Triangle Park.

The old tobacco plant was torn down and the site was renamed The Grounds at Concord.

In 2021, the global beverage manufacturers Red Bull, Rauch and Ball Corp announced they would build a 2-million-square-foot beverage manufacturing, filling and distribution campus on the site.

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Steve Harrison is WFAE's politics and government reporter. Prior to joining WFAE, Steve worked at the Charlotte Observer, where he started on the business desk, then covered politics extensively as the Observer’s lead city government reporter. Steve also spent 10 years with the Miami Herald. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated.