Worcester board recommends $11.5M WuXi tax break

Photo | Grant Welker The Reactory is a planned biomanufacturing site with a capacity for more than 500,000 square feet of space.

Write a Comment

By Grant Welker

The Worcester City Council's economic development committee has recommended the full council approve a $11.5-million tax break for a proposed biomanufacturing facility by WuXi Biologics.

If approved by the City Council, which will meet next on March 17, WuXi will get a major financial incentive toward building what's envisioned as a $60-million, 107,000-square-foot facility that would anchor a new campus of buildings called The Reactory. The 46-acre site will be built on part of the former Worcester State Hospital campus off Belmont Street.

The council's three-member economic development committee unanimously recommended the tax deal on Monday, hearing testimony from supporters of the deal.

"You may not recognize Wuxi as a household name but in the biotech field, they're Nike," said Jon Weaver, the president and CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, a Worcester incubator. "They're huge."

WuXi, a Chinese firm, is planning the Worcester facility as its first such site in the United States. WuXi is a contract manufacturer, making products on behalf of clients and partners who will be visiting the facility and the city, said Shawn Fitzpatrick, the company's director of biologics.

WuXi's proposed tax agreement says a $11.5-million tax break is needed to be competitive with other areas because of Worcester's high business tax rates. Over the term of the proposed 20-year deal, WuXi would save 40% off its tax bill. The company has also received a $6-million tax credit from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

WuXi has a purchase-and-sale agreement with the Worcester Business Development Corp., which bought the old hospital site from the state and has prepared it for new development. Craig Blais, the WBDC president and CEO, said the agency is in talks with two other potential tenants, having landed Wuxi in a competition with a potential site in Pennsylvania.

WuXi plans to break ground this spring and open by March 2022, according to the city.