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RSSA Benchmark Day
August 1, 2008
By Emilie H. Wheeler
An $11.4 million expansion effort at Logan's Thermo Fisher Scientific is complete, and the high-tech global company says the new addition will mean as many as 75 new jobs for the area.
The new BioCenter will house existing and new employees at the company's U.S. Highway 89/91 location. The organization broke ground for the 37,000-square-foot facility last October, an event Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. attended.
A ribbon cutting Wednesday afternoon marked the end of the company's first phase; two additional phases are planned.
The day was a "benchmark" for Fisher Thermo Scientific Inc., a company that comes from the original HyClone Laboratories, executive David Bacehowski said.
"It completes a remarkable history of growth for this business," the general manager of bioprocess containers said, adding that the building served as "insurance to our employees and to the Logan community, as well."
The BioCenter building will be used to manufacture single-use bioprocess containers and related products used by pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Expansion from the current building could total 94,000 square feet and both expand on and replace older operations in other Logan locations.
Several administration and office workers have moved into the BioCenter, although the building will not operate at full capacity for at least three or four months. In addition to the administration area, the structure includes a sera a liquid-media processing facility, powdered-media facility, warehouse and existing bioprocess containers facility.
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced its plans for the BioCenter in September. In that same month, the Logan Redevelopment Agency approved a resolution deeding land on the highway to the company in exchange for property tax increments in coming years.
Meanwhile, the Governor's Office of Economic Development approved a post-performance Economic Development Tax Increment Financing incentive for the scientific production and research facility. It will rebate up to $2.735 million, not exceeding 30 percent of the new state tax revenue during the life of the deal.
Logan Mayor Randy Watts said the expansion positively contributes to the community.
"This is the epitome of what RDAs are all about," he said.
The project will bring a "significant contribution to our tax base through property taxes," Logan Economic Development Director Kirk Jensen said. "And then it brings not only a number of new jobs to our valley, but good paying jobs."
During Wednesday's ceremony, former HyClone president and retired chief scientist at Biosciences Leland Foster said the building should honor Gary Graetz, an engineer who has been at the company for 19 years.
"This entire campus, essentially, is a monument to Gary Graetz," he said of the director of cell culture engineering. "He's had his fingers everywhere."
The project has included landscaping along the highway, something Jensen said is beneficial to the community in general.
"In terms of fronting on Highway 89/91, which is the most significant gateway or entrance to our city, I'm really impressed with it (the facility) and the landscaping," he said. "It's very fitting for a gateway zone."
Rex Spendlove, a valley resident, founded the organization in the 1960s. Then a professor, Spendlove developed methods to produce high-quality serum to meet research needs. In 1981, HyClone constructed its first building on the current campus, although it had sold its products on the retail market for years before that.
In 2003, Fisher Scientific International Inc. purchased HyClone and in 2006 became known as Thermo Fisher Scientific after the company that purchased Hyclone merged with Thermo Electron Corporation.
The company employs about 30,000 people worldwide and 400 locally.
SOURCE: The Herald Journal
