Octapharma details when Charlotte suburb will see its 1,500 jobs averaging $100K+
Octapharma is finally set to bring 1,500 high-paying jobs to the Charlotte area, but it will be a while before people can fill them.
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The $1.5 billion biomedical campus in Rock Hill is expected to start manufacturing and production operations “in the mid-2030s,” according to an announcement Wednesday from Gov. Henry McMaster’s office. Octapharma creates medicines using proteins from donated human plasma.
Octapharma has been at the center of a contentious debate this summer between elected officials in Rock Hill and York County over tax incentives. Both parties lauded Octapharma’s move to Rock Hill, but disagreed on the tax funding split that the county, city and Rock Hill School District would receive.
The city and county agreed to a deal last week that would generate $286.8 million for schools, $71.4 million for the city and $50.8 million for York County in tax revenue over 40 years.
Octapharma also will receive a $65 million state grant to help with site preparation, construction and road improvements.
The city and county reiterated their welcoming stance in Wednesday’s announcement, with the company representing “an investment in our community’s future” that will transform the area and “generate lasting economic opportunities” for residents, said York County Council Chairwoman Christi Cox.
“Octapharma is exactly that kind of investment, creating high-quality jobs across all education levels for generations to come,” said Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys.
People interested in those jobs can visit the career page at octapharmausa.com. That site has information on company employment, but there aren’t any local job openings listed yet with Octapharma.
The 1,500 jobs coming with Octapharma are projected to average more than $100,000 per year. Headquarters jobs should average more than $140,000 per year.
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Both figures are well above the York County average wage of nearly $64,000.
The earliest jobs created by the project are likely to be construction ones. Work should begin this year on the production facility and corporate headquarters, company officials said in recent weeks.
“This is just the beginning of a long partnership with Rock Hill and York County,” Octapharma USA President Flemming Nielsen said in Wednesday’s news release.
Founded in 1983, Octapharma is based in Lachen, Switzerland. The company has more than 40 manufaturing sites, with production facilities in Austria, France, Germany and Sweden. Octapharma also has office sides worldwide.
The Rock Hill facility will be Octapharma’s first manufacturing site in the U.S. It’ll also be the administrative campus for Octapharma’s plasma donation operations nationwide, through Octapharma Plasma.
State officials call the deal historic and a landmark, not only for Rock Hill but for the growing life sciences industry across the state.
Octapharma also pushes Palmetto Research Park forward for Rock Hill.
The more than 200-acre property off Interstate 77 at Exit 81 once intended as the headquarters for the Carolina Panthers is now primed to become a life science and advanced manufacturing hub.
The city agreed to sell 50 acres to Octapharma for its project. In a separate deal, the city agreed to sell 25 acres to Novant Health for a $300 million medical campus.
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