November 19, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Pfizer Inc. announced today that it sold 200 acres and more than 2 million square feet of property on its campus in Pearl River, NY, about 20 miles north of Manhattan. It was acquired by Industrial Realty Group, LLC (IRG), a national real estate development and investment firm.
“We are thrilled to redevelop this impressive campus into an environment where businesses can prosper in Rockland County,” said Stuart Lichter, president of IRG to CBS8. “Our goal is to replicate the same type of success we have created at properties across the country in the community of Pearl River. We look forward to working with the County to develop a renewed vision.”
IRG plans to develop a campus that would have a mix of technology, science, education and retail businesses. “The site has extensive potential,” said John Mase, IRG’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “IRG will pursue redevelopment with opportunities for retail, office, industrial and other commercial users. We have already had a wide range of tenants show interest in the project.”
The deal includes about 38 buildings made up of laboratory, manufacturing, office and support buildings. Pfizer will keep about 500,000 square feet and lease back about 1.2 million square feet from IRG.
Pfizer has indicated it will keep its research and development facilities at a nearby site on Middletown Road in addition to undeveloped land on the property. The company manufactures its Prevnar vaccine at that location under a short-term lease-back deal with IRG that lasts through 2016. Pfizer also manufactures cancer drugs at its Pearl River campus under a long-term lease.
However, in May, Pfizer indicated it was cutting more than 500 jobs at its Pearl River site by 2017. The company plans to end its Prevnar vaccine production in 2017. This would cut its headcount at the location from 1,300 employees to about 550.
Pfizer is currently in talks to acquire Dublin-based Allergan, Inc. for a rumored $150 billion. The merged company would be the largest drug company in the world with a value of about $330 billion, exceeding the current top company, Johnson & Johnson . The deal is believed to be dependent upon Allergan’s Brent Saunders becoming the joint company’s chief executive officer. Many analysts also suspect that if the deal comes together, it’s only a matter of time, perhaps as early as 2017, before the mammoth company then splits into two, one to handle research and development-based new, faster-growing drugs, and another to handle generics and slower-growing, mature drugs whose patents are expired or soon expiring.
