The city will pay Apixir Pharma Sciences up to $35,000 in economic development incentives if its representatives decide to establish a facility that meets certain conditions in office space at Premier Office & Technology Park, under a resolution adopted during the council’s meeting.
The firm’s activities would include researching, developing and manufacturing drug intermediates and other products and providing research and development services to companies in the biotech, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Apixir was formed by three partners with considerable pharmaceutical industry experience, officials said.
According to High Point Economic Development Corp. President Loren Hill, the company plans to create at least 25 local jobs over its first three years of operation – primarily scientist and researcher jobs, with an average wage between $40,000 and $50,000. The company would add at least $2 million to the city tax base, officials said.
Hill said High Point is the leading contender for the project, but other Triad locations, as well as sites out of state, are being considered.
Councilmen Bill Bencini and Mike Pugh voted against the resolution.
The incentives would be paid out in installments once the company met certain benchmarks for investment levels and job creation. Hill said the site being considered was previously occupied by Ciba Specialty Chemicals, which closed recently.
Hill said the city has twice granted incentives for startup companies during his tenure. One firm still is in operation, and the other is not. Under city guidelines, a business in north High Point must invest at least $17.5 million to be eligible for incentives, but a provision that would apply to Apixir allows for certain types of high-tech or emerging industries to be exempt from this, Hill said.
Also Monday, the council held the first of two public hearings on the city’s proposed 2010-11 budget. Two members of the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival’s Board of Trustees spoke, asking the council to appropriate for the second straight year $50,000 for the festival in the form of credit for rental of the city-operated High Point Theatre – money that is in the proposed budget. The only other speaker was Debbie Lumpkins, executive director of the High Point Area Arts Council, whose organization is slated for a 5 percent reduction in city funding, to $117,063.
The other public hearing on the budget, which would hold the property tax rate steady but increase utility rates, is scheduled for Thursday at 9 a.m. Council is expected to adopt the budget June 21.
pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531
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