Investment Value of Top 10 North American Life Science Projects Drops 34% to $2.9 Billion in 2008

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--An analysis of the top 10 North American Pharmaceutical & Biotech capital projects currently scheduled to begin construction in 2008 reveals a cumulative total investment value (TIV) of $2.9 billion. Although the figure is impressive, it is a 34% drop compared with the same analysis of last year's top 10 projects, which totaled $4.4 billion. Additionally, the average project TIV from last year, $440 million, is considerably higher than this year's $290 million, as drawn from a recent analysis of current reports monitored within Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker.

Click on the image at right to see a list of the top 10 life science projects in North America based on projects scheduled to begin construction in 2008.

Accounting for 2008's lower figure was last year's start of two huge university projects. In Canada, the University of Alberta kicked off construction on a $909 million health sciences project in Edmonton, while in the U.S., Harvard began to implement a $500 million Allston science campus project. Projects of this size and scope take years to plan and have fluid start dates. When the funds are finally released, construction begins, design completion notwithstanding. Projects that have been planned for a decade or more undergo many changes in form and function from conception to construction, and the final result is often unrecognizable from initial plans. Accommodating technological advances and concepts in addition to the targeted purpose of a building often spurs design to continue well into the actual construction process.

As was the case at the beginning of year, Shire PLC's (LSE:SHP) (Chineham, England) Wayne, Pennsylvania, office remains at the top for 2008 with plans to begin construction this year on its long-anticipated $394 million biomanufacturing plant. The Lexington Technology Park (Lexington, Massachusetts) is the site for the new facility, which could eventually employ nearly 700 people. The project and the accompanying financial benefits were highly sought by a number of states before Shire ultimately settled on Massachusetts. The company is in line to receive an incentive package valued at more than $40 million.

Massachusetts takes second place spending honors, in a tie with a $350 million project in Boston. Under a joint venture between Alexandria Real Estate Equities Incorporated (NYSE:ARE) (Pasadena, California), Charles River Realty Investors (Newton, Massachusetts) and National Development (Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts), John Moriarty & Associates (Winchester, Massachusetts) has begun construction on the building, which will total more than 250,000 square feet. The joint venture was formed last year when the three companies joined together and purchased the prime 1.1-acre building site from the Joslin Diabetes Center. Approximately 135,000 square feet is planned as research space for Joslin, with the remainder of the facility leased to other life science entities.

If the final site selection can be decided and dirt is turned before year's end, Solvay Pharma USA's (Marietta, Georgia) construction of a $350 million vaccine production plant in Birmingham, Alabama, would be tied as the second-largest 2008 project. The company is playing the construction cards close to its vest, but Alabama, and Birmingham in particular, remains at the top of the list for suspected sites.

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