Eagleview leases new 110,000-SF building to international life sciences companies; hundreds of jobs planned

This rendering shows an overhead view of a new building in Exton’s Eagleview development.
HANKIN GROUP

By Paul Schwedelson  –  Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
Nov 10, 2022 Updated Nov 11, 2022, 5:26pm EST

Swiss and Chinese companies have signed long-term leases to occupy a 110,000-square-foot lab and flex space building under construction in Exton’s Eagleview development.

Früh Verpackungstechnik AG, a medical packaging company based in Fehraltorf, Switzerland, will lease 63,500 square feet in the new building. China’s Frontage Laboratories, which already leases space in Eagleview, signed to lease another 46,500 square feet in the same future building. Frontage provides product development services to companies developing drugs.

Hankin Group, Eagleview’s developer, said the total cost of the building is $40 million. The companies declined to share terms of the two leases. The building is at 240 Sierra Drive.

Früh plans to employ “a few hundred” people at its the site with most being newly created jobs, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Thomas Good said from Switzerland in a phone interview.

“We are following the customers’ voice,” Good said. “We already do business in significant numbers with the American market. Customers have asked why not provide the service for medical devices in the U.S.?”

Früh, which has locations in Switzerland and China, considered an American expansion before the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s search slowed temporarily before choosing between locations in Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Früh’s analysis found Massachusetts offered the highest educated workforce but also the most expensive. Among the three, salaries were lowest in Illinois but Good said that came with disadvantages. The Philadelphia area offered the most complete package, he said.

Upon arriving to the Eagleview site and exiting the car, “My first impression was, ‘We have found it,’” Good said.

Hankin Group aims to have the first phase of the new building ready for Früh in the fall of 2023, COO Michael Hankin said. Receiving required certifications could take a few months, Good said, so the site would then be operational by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

 

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Read the full article at: www.bizjournals.com