Life sciences company to build $35M complex in Madison

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Global life sciences company Eurofins Scientific plans to buy land in a Madison business park and build a $35 million laboratory and office building that could house nearly 500 employees.

Madison City Council will consider the purchase proposal on Tuesday, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Eurofins will pay about $1 million for 22 acres in the Center for Industry and Commerce, said Matthew Mikolajewski, the city’s economic development director.

Another $1 million will be forgiven if the company retains 375 full-time employees at the site for four years. If it doesn’t meet that goal, Eurofins will have to pay about $26,000 per job, with a cap of about $268,000.

The city plans to cover about $500,000 of the estimated $1.3 million cost to extend municipal services to the site.

“When a business locates in a business park, there’s always an expectation they will pay to connect services and contribute to new roads,” Mikolajewski said. “In this case, we, as the city, deconstructed some existing roads that were already there so we did not believe it was fair for Eurofins or any of the businesses that move into the remaining parcels to cover some of those costs.”

Mikolajewski said Eurofins hopes to begin construction next summer and start occupying the space in 2021.

Eurofins is new to Madison, but its employees aren’t. Eurofins bought the Covance Food Solutions business from Covance parent company LabCorp in August for $670 million. Covance has long been one of Madison’s largest employers, with nearly 400 workers.