Abbott Deal May Create Thousands of Jobs: State Backing Will Help Drug Company Build in Wisconsin
By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mar. 3–Pleasant Prairie — The planned expansion global pharmaceutical maker Abbott Laboratories Inc. into southeastern Wisconsin could bring at least 2,400 — and possibly up to 12,000 — jobs, Gov. Jim Doyle and other officials said Thursday.
The governor announced that a $12.5 million forgivable state loan would be used to help finance Abbott’s plans to establish a corporate campus in Pleasant Prairie. The loan, which would be the single largest economic development grant in state history, would be made to the non-profit Kenosha Area Business Alliance.
“We understand this isn’t going to happen overnight,” Doyle said.
“We have full confidence that these jobs will be created,” said state Commerce Secretary Mary Burke.
Doyle and Burke spoke during the announcement of the state assistance plans for Abbott, which is based in suburban Chicago. Executives from Abbott did not attend the news conference.
The business alliance will use the state money to buy 40 acres in the northwest quadrant of the I-94/Highway Q interchange. Burke said the group will then give about 20 acres to Abbott, which would combine the land with nearly 500 acres that the company has already purchased in that quadrant.
The alliance will provide the land to Abbott once the company is ready to begin development of the site, said Burke and alliance Chairman Mark Jaeger.
The project’s time frame remains undetermined, said Burke and Jaeger, who also is senior vice president and general counsel at Kenosha-based Jockey International Inc. Abbott spokesman Jonathan Hamilton said the Wisconsin site is for future growth, without any specific plans at this time.
“It’s pretty hard to determine exactly when you’re going to grow,” said Burke, a former executive at Trek Bicycle Corp. “It could be from internal growth, or it could be from acquisitions.”
The state loan doesn’t have to be repaid if at least 2,400 jobs are created Abbott, Doyle told an audience at Pleasant Prairie’s LakeView RecPlex recreational complex.
The alliance has up to 10 years to reach the job goal, Burke said later.
Burke said the land is expected to be zoned to accommodate up to 12,000 employees. Abbott’s land could potentially house several buildings with offices, laboratories, light manufacturing and other uses, Burke said.
Abbott earned $3.4 billion on global sales of $22.3 billion in 2005. The company, which makes pharmaceutical and medical products, has 60,000 employees worldwide, including around 14,000 employees in Lake County, Ill., just across the border from Kenosha County.
“Abbott Labs is exactly the kind of company we want here in Wisconsin,” said Doyle, who cited the company’s record of innovation, its global image and its “bright prospects.”
Abbott, based about 15 miles south of Kenosha County in Libertyville Township, since June 2005 has purchased 467 acres near the I-94/Highway Q interchange for $34.9 million, according to documents filed with the Kenosha County register of deeds.
With the additional 20 acres from the alliance, Abbott will control much of the land between I-94, Highway Q, Highway U and Highway C, an area that includes a portion of the Town of Bristol. Burke said the other 20 acres being acquired the alliance will likely be used to develop a high-end hotel that will cater to business travelers drawn Abbott and other corporate developments.
Abbott could eventually develop a corporate campus in Kenosha County that is comparable to its global headquarters in Libertyville Township, Burke said. But Abbott is not considering a move of its headquarters from Illinois to Wisconsin, she said.
Convenient site
Abbott was interested in the Pleasant Prairie site because it’s just 20 to 30 minutes north of its headquarters, is easily accessible to I-94 and is reasonably priced, Burke said.
Burke also said the enactment of a law requiring the use of the single factor of Wisconsin sales when deciding how much the state will tax multistate corporations helped pave the way for Abbott’s purchase.
Before that law, which Doyle supported, businesses that created jobs in Wisconsin ended up paying higher taxes as a result.
Doyle praised Pleasant Prairie officials for taking steps to make the land available for development.
The village is spending $19.7 million on streets, sewers, water mains and other public improvements west of I-94. That money and an estimated $16.4 million of interest charges are to be paid back 2024 through property taxes generated the Abbott development, as well as PrairieWood Corporate Park, a 216-acre industrial and office park that Milwaukee-based Wispark LLC plans to develop at the southwest quadrant of I-94 and Highway Q.
Most of the site now is used for farming.
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