Pfizer, which is building what has been touted as the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere, is seeking a tax break from local and state governments.
In a meeting with the city council in Portage, Mich., this week, the company asked for an industrial facilities tax exemption for its building located on Portage Road which, if approved, would cut in half the property taxes it would have to pay for the next 12 years, Michigan Live reported.
At the meeting, Mayor Patricia Randall said projected revenue for the city would be in the range of $26.7 million over the next 20 years with the overall economic benefit to the region pegged at $49.2 million in six years.
According to documents presented by Pfizer at the city council meeting, the project will create 140 jobs in the next two years and a total of 450 positions within six years at an average income of about $93,333 with benefits.
A decision on the tax break request comes a little over a month after the pharma giant unveiled its $150 million expansion project at the site and showcased its new $41 million, 98,000-square-foot warehouse. Pfizer is also building a $105.6 million sterile manufacturing operation at the site.
Pfizer has said a 10,000-square-foot aseptic processing work center is expected to be completed next year, with the first commercial batches expected by year-end 2019. In the past 10 years, Pfizer has invested about $1 billion at its Kalamazoo site and has said it may invest about $800 million more in the next decade.
An April 10 public hearing to consider the tax cut was set by the council at Tuesday’s meeting.