Sulzer Biologics to Sell Austin Area Site of Scrapped $25 Million Plant

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Several years ago, amid much fanfare and financial incentives from the town of Cedar Park, Texas, Sulzer Biologics (Centerpulse Orthopedics Incorporated) (NYSE:CEP) (Austin, Texas) announced their intention to build a $25 million orthopedic implant manufacturing plant. Industrialinfo.com has been tracking the facility since the project's initial days in 1999 when the company purchased the 27-acre plant site with help from Cedar Park in the form of $3 million. The land is being offered for approximately $2.7 million with the proceeds going to the city as part of a formal repayment plan initiated as a result of the project's cancellation.

The new facility was to manufacture Sulzer's then promising hip implants and promised to offer hundreds of new jobs in the Austin area. The project had progressed far enough for Sulzer to hire the architectural firm, PageSoutherlandPage (Austin, Texas), and an engineering/construction company, Fluor Daniel (Greenville, South Carolina).

A series of medical problems with the hip implants set off a chain of lawsuits that are still working their way through the court system. A coating that should have been removed prior to implantation caused severe problems in many patients, necessitating additional surgery to replace the implant. Centerpulse Limited (Zurich, Switzerland) acquired Sulzer and now operates under that name in the U.S.