AstraZeneca plans to demolish 450,000 square feet of space at its North American headquarters, causing consternation among local officials. The three buildings marked for destruction, part of a sprawling campus in Fairfax, DE, have lab space that could be valuable to local economic development efforts, officials say.
The state's economic development office had tried to convince AstraZeneca to allow the state or Delaware Technology Park to take over the buildings and use it as incubator space or for start-up companies. But talks didn't advance far. "It's not terribly understandable to us why three viable buildings for the life-science industries would be torn down," Mike Bowman, president of the Delaware Technology Park, told Delaware Online. "But that reasoning is not ours to make."
AZ spokesman Tony Jewell said the company considered "many, many options" for the three buildings, but decided that it wouldn't be cost-effective to lease them or convert them to another use. Demolition will start later this year, with the site work slated for completion by 2013.
- read the Delaware Online story