Pfizer says it will create 450 new jobs by expanding production in Portage. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation on Tuesday approved incentives for Pfizer valued at $11.5 million, including an approximately $10 million tax break over 10 years.
The pharmaceutical company says it will invest $465 million to build a new 400,000-square-foot plant in Portage that will produce sterile injectable drugs. The project is part of an overall plan Pfizer announced in January to invest $5 billion in U.S. manufacturing facilities over the next six years.
Groundbreaking on the new Portage facility is scheduled for next spring, with 450 new employees hired within six years. The tax breaks for Pfizer are the first awarded under Gov. Snyder’s “Good Jobs for Michigan” program.
In Portage on Tuesday, Governor Rick Snyder spoke of a need to grow high-skill employment in Michigan.
"It’s very exciting to see these jobs coming and I'm happy to have them get rewarded as they create the jobs," he said of Pfizer.
Portage Mayor Patricia Randall said the news of the expansion made Tuesday "truly, a great day for all of us."
"I've always said, what's good for Pfizer is good for Portage and what's good for Portage is good for Pfizer. Everything that happens here affects our housing market, the other businesses that are generated," she said.
Portage will take $32 million off the company’s tax bill over the next 14 years. City Manager Larry Shaffer suggests the tax breaks were important for securing the expansion.
"We have to compete, we intend to compete and that’s all there is to it. And the thing to remember also is those jobs. So important to maintaining our economy, those jobs," Shaffer said on Tuesday.
