Incyte plans to purchase its headquarters site for nearly $80 million.
The site, just outside the city of Wilmington on Augustine Cutoff formerly housed the Wanamaker store.
The deal, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, would cost the company $79.9 million and could be completed next year.
The seller would be the Capano family interests, which leased the property to the fast-growing pharmaceutical company. Incyte made major renovations to the building, which had been vacant for some time.
Incyte signed a 15-year lease for the property in 2013.
Incyte has been in the news recently after filing plans with the county for the expansion of the headquarters site, which is already at capacity with a staff of more than 500 now working in Delaware. The expansion could add another 400 jobs at the site.
The discovery company has a blockbuster drug Jakafi, which treats certain types of blood cancers. Incyte is expanding its efforts to find other cancers that can be treated with its discoveries.
The deal, which would be one of the biggest transactions in the market in recent years, would also allow Incyte to avoid any possible family squabbles over the site.
One Capano family member earlier questioned the deal that led to the pharmaceutical company expanding to the site. Incyte had been located for a number of years in the DuPont Experimental Station, a short distance away from the Augustine Cutoff location.
The transaction would also be good news for New Castle County, which would receive real estate transfer tax revenues in the millions of dollars. It would also allow the state breathe a little easier over fears that an expansion could lead to jobs at sites in Pennsylvania.
Endo Pharmacuticals, a spin-off of DuPont Co, moved its headquarters from a location near the Delaware line to Malvern. That left office space available for companies.
Incyte can easily afford the $79.9 million as it has a stock market value of nearly $21 billion.
An Incyte spokesman did not immediately return an E mail request for comment.
