AstraZeneca has made no decision on selling its Fairfax site, a company spokesperson stated.
“While no decisions have been made at this point, we continue to assess all options, one of which is the redevelopment of our current site. In order to fully explore this possibility, AstraZeneca will be soliciting bids from real estate developers in the coming months, and that requires us putting the site on the market for sale,” Abigail Bozarth wrote in an Email message.
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The News Journal reported the company had decided to put the building on the market, with the possibility of the new owner leasing back the space to AZ.
The newspaper cited undisclosed sources in its story.
In May, AstraZeneca announced it will keep its North American Commercial Headquarters in Delaware. This came as the company announced another restructuring and cost reduction effort as its blockbuster drugs lose patent protection.
So far, no major job announcements have been made. There has been one unconfirmed report of an AstraZeneca business moving from another location in the Delaware Valley to Delaware.
The company did not rule out moving to new space or reconfiguring current space to reflect changes in work environments that can stress large open workspaces and conference areas rather than cubicles and walled-off offices.
AstraZeneca had earlier sold its south campus to JPMorgan Chase as its workforce shrunk from upwards of 5,000 to about 2,100 today.
It also demolished research space at the Fairfax site, despite pleas from state officials to keep the space for future use by another company.
The financial services company meanwhile ripped out the individual offices and went to a more open work environment.
A bridge between the Chase and AstraZeneca space remains, leading to speculation that Chase might be interested in the space across the road if it became available.
AstraZeneca also has a distribution site south of Newark.
