15 Jun 2022

Lilly breaks ground on $1B Cabarrus County manufacturing facility

State and local officials, as well as leadership from Eli Lilly and Company, gathered at the Grounds at Concord this week for a groundbreaking ceremony.  

As part of the company’s commitment to delivering innovative medicines to patients around the world, Lilly is investing more than $1 billion to create a new state-of-the-art manufacturing site in Concord. The investment is expected to create nearly 600 jobs. It is the second-largest economic development announcement in the history of Cabarrus County. 

“We’re back!” Gov. Roy Cooper exclaimed as the crowd applauded. 

North Carolina committed to Lilly to provide a “strong, smart, dedicated, and diverse workforce,” Cooper added.  

The new facility will utilize the latest technology to increase the company’s manufacturing capacity in parenteral (injectable) medications, device assembly and packaging operations.  

The manufacturing facility will be built at The Grounds at Concord, the former Phillip Morris plant which has become home to other significant economic development announcements in recent months.  

While building out the site, developers will be using the latest high-tech equipment, advanced, highly integrated and automated manufacturing systems, with a focus on minimizing our environmental impact. 

“This will change the landscape of biotech in this part of our state,” Page Castrodale, executive director of the Cabarrus Economic Development Corporation, said when the announcement was made. “It expands North Carolina’s life sciences industry into the Charlotte Region in a very transformative way, bringing tremendous opportunity with it.” 

Photo Courtesy: LJ Weslowski, City of Concord

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