Pfizer Pharmaceutical Facility, Skokie, IL, USA

tart year
2005
Project type
Refurbished biotech campus
Location
Skokie, Illinois, USA
Estimated investment
$43m (but investment could reach $155m over the period from 2005 to 2010)
Completion
2010
Sponsor
Forest City Development, iBIO, Forest City (Bioscience & Technology Group)
Contractor
J.L.Burke Contracting Inc. (Refurbished the parking garage in 2000)
Full specifications

Pharmacia Corporation (now owned by Pfizer) announced in 2000 the opening of its new facility in Skokie, in the state of Illinois (USA). The company was created by an agreement between Monsanto/Searle and Pharmacia & St. John.

Pfizer Inc and Pharmacia Corporation began operating as a unified company in April 2003. Over the years several significant new medicines were discovered and developed at the Skokie site, including the blockbuster drug Celebrex.

In late 2003 Pfizer announced the closure of the Skokie facility in a worldwide reorganisation. The closure affected 1,500 research and administrative jobs in the Chicago area. The vast majority of those were in Skokie. For decades, the facility under different ownerships was a major boon to the village and conducted significant pharmaceutical research on everything from birth control to Nutra Sweet.
"The new facility will contain a range of companies and is expected to create over 3,250 jobs."

In early 2005 developer Forest City Enterprises purchased the former Pfizer Pharmaceuticals property occupying 23.4 acres in downtown Skokie for $43m including 1 million ft² of research and office space across nine buildings. The negotiations took 12 months but Pfizer had promised the local community that they would sell the property to a developer who would bring employment to the area and that is what they did.
FINANCE AND INCENTIVES

Forest City will invest over $155m in the park over a ten year period. The State of Illinois has committed $5m to the project. The Village of Skokie will provide $10m in assistance from the proceeds of two General Obligation Bond issues supported by a new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district.

The funds are to be provided to Forest City as reimbursement for TIF eligible expenses. The assessed valuation of the Forest City property has significantly declined from a peak of $35,256,000 to a present $17,858,000 valuation. Property improvements are projected to significantly increase the assessed valuation and generate the TIF revenue necessary to pay off the bond issues.

NEW BEGINNING

The new complex will be called the Illinois Technology Innovation Campus. The new facility will contain a range of companies and is expected to create over 3,250 jobs (Skokie’s employment base is around 35,000 and so this represents an increase of around 9.5%). Forest City officials estimate that the campus will generate $1.8bn annually in State-wide economic activity, according to a study conducted by Applied Real Estate Analysis Inc.

The Pfizer property includes nine buildings. Building Q, as it is called, is a state-of-the-art research building and will not need significant renovation. But four buildings will probably be demolished and a couple of other buildings renovated. The campus could have upwards of 14 companies conducting important research combined with the ability to communicate with each other. The refurbished campus is currently being put forward as the perfect site for the location of new bioscience and biopharmaceutical start-up companies.

NEW BIOTECH HUB

The project is being overseen by Forest City’s Boston-based University, Bioscience & Technology Group who will, over a period of five to ten years, develop the old corporate facility into a state-of-the-art multi-tenant research campus with the capacity to expand to meet future demands. Construction work on the campus renovation began in the third quarter of 2005 and is still underway, although tenants have taken up space as well.

David Miller, President of iBIO (Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization), said: "The importance of the new Illinois Science and Technology Park cannot be overstated… It provides a focal point for creation of a world recognised biosciences node, one which will draw to our community the best scientific and business talent, not to mention outside capital eager to back Illinois companies."

FACILITIES AT THE SITE

From 1998 the Skokie site underwent a series of improvements to enhance production capacity as well as R&D capabilities. The last building constructed was the Q Building. The new facility was designed and built under the USGBC LEED rating system to create a green lab facility with a gold LEED rating that conserved energy, and used recycled and locally available materials.

The Q Building was designed to be 40% more efficient than similar lab buildings, reducing energy requirements and emissions. The steel beams in the construction were 100% recycled steel and the wallboard was made from the purified waste products of power plants. The carpeting and ceiling tiles contained a large percentage of recycled material.

The Q Building was also designed to provide an environment to maximise the collaboration among scientists of different disciplines. Designed primarily as chemistry building, its flexible design was able to accommodate other scientific endeavours. The building has a floor space of 170,000ft² and required an investment of $78m to construct.
"The Q Building was designed to be 40% more efficient than similar lab buildings, reducing energy requirements and emissions."

To address the issue of energy conservation at the Q Building, the building’s designers incorporated a combination of infrared sensors and high-efficiency air-handling units to ensure that the minimal amounts of energy were being expended to operate the building motion sensors allowing for the mechanical monitoring of the presence of occupants.

When there were no lab occupants for a specified period of time, a variety of adjustments were made within the building. For example, lights were automatically turned off; the velocity of air being removed through exhaust hoods was reduced.

Additionally, air-handling units were analysed based on operating costs over an extended period rather than based on initial cost alone.

PARKING

The campus has a whole range of advantages including adequate parking. In 2000 JL Burke Contracting Inc completed a refurbishment of the parking complex near the front entrance of the campus. They started the work in 1999 for Searle and completed it under the ownership of Pfizer. A two level structure now parks 900 vehicles near the main entrance. The expansion presented the company with a complex engineering situation.

Besides working out the engineering and construction technology to add two levels to the existing facility, they were constrained by being locked in on three sides. JL Burke was able to use a unique piece of equipment from IEI of Milwaukee. This consisted of a pair of dual hydraulic scissors capable of lifting 19t of precast concrete sections with tolerances of only 1/8 in. The lift allowed for construction within the existing facility, while not interfering with the street traffic to the north.