LabCorp will locate a new operations center in North Carolina, creating 422 jobs, Governor Roy Cooper announced. The company will invest $30 million in a Durham facility on the Parmer RTP campus. In addition to the new positions that will be added over time, the facility will house existing information technology staff, along with personnel from its drug development business, who currently occupy several locations in Durham and Wake counties.
“North Carolina’s leadership in life sciences pays off in many ways,” said Governor Cooper. “Thanks to the concentration of biotech companies doing business here, North Carolina can attract and train workers who specialize in this industry, from running lab tests to writing software.”
LabCorp, headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina, provides clinical laboratory and end-to-end drug development services. The company employs more than 60,000 people worldwide, including more than 8,900 people in North Carolina.
The North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. (EDPNC) led the state’s support for the company’s expansion.
“We appreciate the support of Governor Cooper, the Department of Commerce, the EDPNC, and the other organizations that were involved in this project,” said David P. King, LabCorp’s CEO and chairman. “LabCorp was founded in Burlington almost 50 years ago, and we have stayed close to our roots as we have grown into a global life sciences leader. Bringing many of our valued colleagues together at this location will enhance collaboration, and will complement our well-established diagnostic and drug development operations in RTP and in the Triad.”
LabCorp will add a variety of positions with this expansion, including information technology designers, software developers, operations staff, and senior and middle managers. When all the new positions are filled, the total payroll impact will be $27.7 million annually.
LabCorp’s expansion in Durham County will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier. Over the course of the 12-year term of this grant, the project will grow the state’s economy by an estimated $880 million. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $8,172,750, spread over 12 years. State payments only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.
Because LabCorp chose to expand in Durham County, classified by the state’s economic tier system as Tier 3, the company’s JDIG agreement also calls for moving as much as $2.7 million into the state’s Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account. The Utility Account helps rural communities finance necessary infrastructure upgrades to attract future business. Even when new jobs are created in a Tier 3 county such as Durham, the new tax revenue generated through JDIG grants helps more economically challenged communities anywhere in the state.