Delaware will pay a hefty price per employee in offering a $19 million grant for a proposed pharmaceutical manufacturing site in Middletown.
On Monday morning, the Council on Development Finance approved a financial package for a unit of China-based WuXi AppTec. The advisory panel made up of private and public representatives sends its recommendations to the state’s Small Business Director for final action.
The company is expected to make a decision on proceeding with the project in a couple of weeks.
WuXi is also requesting $2 million from the state in highway-related infrastructure improvements. Delaware has a separate advisory panel that screens and recommends projects.
The Delaware Prosperity Partnership, which has been involved in the effort to bring the plant to Delaware since 2020, confirmed that the grant is based on the company having about 500 workers in the first phase of the project.
The financial package from the state comes out to about $38,000 per employee. According to Dean Childers, who was named as director of the project by WuXi AppTec, the pay will amount to about $40,000 a year for employees, although salaries for technical/science personnel will be higher.
The $38,000 figure does not include the impact of construction costs which could run half a billion dollars, the Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription) reported.
By contrast, the package for the Amazon fulfillment center site at the former GM Boxwood plant site near Newport came out to about $5,100 per employee.
Over the past decade, the largest grants have been in the low nine-figures, with many in the six figures.
It followed the state, a decade earlier, losing much of the $20 million for the failed Fisker Automotive project at the former GM Boxwood plant.
According to materials presented in public meetings, the 187-acre site could employ as many as 1,200 and will be built in phases.
The site would be devoted to manufacturing and packaging pharmaceutical products on a contract basis.
Click on the headline below for an earlier story on the project.
Finance panel green lights $19 million grant for Middletown pharma manufacturing site
