December 4,2018-
Germany-based pharmaceutical giant Merck Group plans to open a $28 million distribution facility in the Visalia Industrial Park. A Midwest developer, Scannell has purchased 10 acres on Riggin, east of Plaza and is now gearing up to break ground in January. Scannell’s tenant is the US division of Merck Group called MilliporeSigma.
Still partially family owned, Merck was founded in 1668 and is the world’s oldest operating chemical and pharmaceutical company, as well as one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
MilliporeSigma says their products are used in the research, development and manufacture of biotechnological and pharmaceutical drug therapies, as well as in research and application laboratories. In addition their products also reach markets like the food and beverage industry.
Ironically one of MilliporeSigma’s largest competitors is VWR who built a large plant in Visalia in 2012 is located right next door to the new Merck site along Riggin. VWR is a global supplier of lab and pharmaceutical supplies and employs around 100 in the 500,000sf plant.
The much smaller Merck plant will employ about 30 says Merck spokesperson Karen Tiano. “Visalia is centrally located and with access to transportation corridors- these are key reasons why we are building here.”
The company has some 130 distribution centers around the nation and several in California including Temecula, Carlsbad, Hayward and Rocklin, says Tiano.
Merck will occupy a 123,332sf facility expected to be complete by the end of 2019 says Courtney Lehman, development manager for Scannell Properties, the developer on the project. The plan will allow an expansion option to 160,000sf.
Map of activity along Riggin in Visalia Industrial Park
Merck is joining other companies wanting to build along Visalia’s new trucking artery linked to Highway 99, Riggin connecting to the new Betty Drive interchange in Goshen completed earlier this year. Along this new 4-lane corridor where it intersects with Plaza Drive and Highway 198 are several new distribution hubs that have recently been built or are in the works for the new year.
One is a very big fish who will attract many more.
Because of one company’s plans, just reported here, there will likely be more of these hubs sprouting along what has been open range land on this sparsely populated northern edge of Visalia. That company is United Parcel Service (UPS) who last year bought 58 acres at Plaza north of Riggin, and is now ready to begin construction on a new 425,000sf regional distribution center right across the street from the new Merck facility with plans to open about the same time.