Eli Lilly to Build $5B Virginia Drug Manufacturing Plant
The campus is set to become the company's first facility of its kind.
Eli Lilly will develop a $5 billion manufacturing plant in Richmond, Va., advancing its $50 billion capital deployment plan across the U.S. Completion is expected within the next five years.
The manufacturing space is slated to clock in at more than 200,000 square feet, though the campus will include offices and other areas as well, Richmond BizSense reported. The company will integrate technologies such as machine learning, AI and automated systems at the plant.
This project will mark Eli Lilly’s first bioconjugate production facility, according to the company. Such drugs are designed to deliver medicine directly to diseased cells, maximizing effectiveness while reducing harm to healthy tissue. Primary usage relates to cancer treatment; however, this therapy is also being tested to address autoimmune diseases.
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The construction site spans 227 acres at 12575 West Creek Parkway, according to Richmond BizSense. That land is currently owned by insurance company Markel, and part of it serves as a soccer field complex. Downtown Richmond is about 23 miles southeast, while Interstate 64 and U.S. Route 250 run within about 6 miles.
Eli Lilly has invested some $23 billion in new plants and site expansions since 2020, and plans to deploy an extra $27 billion, reaching a total of $50 billion within the next five years. To meet its goals, the company will develop four plants, including the one in Richmond.
All of the new sites would bolster the company’s manufacturing capabilities. Another one of these projects could take root in Houston, where Eli Lilly considers building a $5.9 billion biomanufacturing plant on a 236-acre site.
Richmond’s industrial vacancy drops as rents go up
Industrial completions across metro Richmond clocked in at a modest 321,000 square feet during the second quarter, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report. The market still had 2.1 million square feet of industrial speculative product underway as of June.
Meanwhile, vacancy eased 60 basis points year-over-year, sliding to 3.6 percent in June, the report shows. Overall net asking industrial rents went up 2.9 percent compared to March, landing at $7.78 mid-year.
Eli Lilly is just the latest company looking to expand in the market. The LEGO Group plans to develop a 2 million-square-foot distribution warehouse, while Amazon seeks to build a 3.1 million-square-foot robotics facility.
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