September 15, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals , with headquarters in Tarrytown, New York, has announced its plans to dramatically expand its research-and-development center in Greenburgh, New York.
The expansion, if approved, would nearly double the size of its current campus at that location. Regeneron proposed building nine buildings and five partially underground parking garages on 30 acres of a 100-acre parcel it owns at 555 Saw Mill River Road. The first step of the project would be to make it “shovel-ready,” and then proceed in several phases for about 10 years.
The 100-acre site was acquired last year for $73 million by Regeneron’s subsidiary, Loop Road Holdings.
“Regeneron has called Westchester home for over 28 years and continues to grow and invest in the community,” said Erin Loosen, a Regeneron spokeswoman, in a statement. “Our application to the town of Greenburgh affords us the opportunity to expand in the future if needed.”
Regeneron currently has three products on the market, Eylea, to treat age-related macular degeneration, Arcalyst, to treat Cryopyrin-Associated Periodic Syndromes (CAPS), a rare hereditary disease, and Praluent, a new type of drug to treat an inherited form of high cholesterol.
On August 29, Regeneron, along with its partner Sanofi , announced the results from its ODYSSEY ESCAPE Phase III trial to evaluate Praluent in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia who require weekly or bi-weekly apheresis treatment. It showed that adding Praluent to current therapy cut LDL cholesterol by about 50 percent. Apheresis is similar to kidney dialysis, in which LDL cholesterol is removed from the blood.
If the company’s Greenburgh expansion plan is approved and completed, it will have made 1 million square feet of new research-and-development space. The town, perhaps not surprisingly, is eager for it to happen.
“This will generate a lot of revenue for the town,” said Greenburgh town supervisor Paul Feiner to Iohud, The Journal News. “It’s going to help local merchants. It’s going to be good for property values.” He also noted that the town would likely bring in $7 to $8 million just from building permits. “If it was up to me, I would have approved it, like, yesterday.”
The Town Board is likely to designate itself the lead on the project’s state environmental review process tonight. Review of the site-plan by the Planning Board is expected to start next month.
The state of New York gave Regeneron $10.2 million in tax credits for recent construction on one part of the Eastview campus. So far, the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency indicates it hasn’t received any requests for mortgage-record- or sales-tax exemptions for the project.
Rather than one or two large office buildings, Regeneron is planning a number of smaller buildings ranging from 40,000 square feet to 280,000 square feet, which, according to Jeff Shantz, an architect with EYP Architecture & Engineering, designers of the project, would create a “village-like” environment. “Research culture at Regeneron, corporate culture in Regeneron, is very much based on collaboration. It’s very much based on working together. So the idea that we could develop the site such a way that it would feel more like a village … had a lot of appeal to us.”
