The maker of Nature Made vitamins will build a $200-million factory New Albany, creating 225 jobs and adding to the string of recent wins for the Columbus suburb.
Health and wellness company Pharmavite received approval for state tax incentives for the project on Monday from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority.
The authority also signed off on a project for French lithium ion battery company Forsee Power, which plans to establish its North American headquarters in Hilliard, creating 150 jobs.
Pharmavite, based in Southern California, will build a 200,000- to 250,000-square-foot facility at 13312 Jug St. NW. Production is expected to start by the end of 2024.The company anticipates the building will be expanded in the future.
The plant will make gummies, a rapidly growing part of Pharmavite’s business, CEO Jeff Boutelle said.
The company has run out of capacity to make gummies at its other operations in Southern California and in Alabama, he said.
The New Albany investment is the company’s fourth manufacturing facility and the second outside California. Products made at the plant will be shipped nationwide.
The company also is the maker of MegaFood and menopause relief product Equelle,
Pharmavite, like other vitamin companies, experienced a surge in demand for its products when the pandemic started. Even as the coronavirus has ebbed, the company is still seeing demand grow.
Beyond manufacturing, the new plant will have research and development operations meant to drive innovation with gummies so the plant will have a mix of professionals, scientists and workers needed to run it.
“We fully anticipate this facility to get bigger as the business develops,” Boutelle said.
Boutelle grew up in Bowling Green, Ohio, and has worked in Ohio, yet it was a team from the company that settled on New Albany.
He credited a variety of factors for the company selecting New Albany, ranging from the workforce to Ohio State University to New Albany’s emphasis on health and wellness.
The news of the plant is the latest success for New Albany.
In the last year, New Albany has landed an Amgen $365 million packaging plant, a $20 billion project from semiconductor company Intel, a 15-acre project meant to use batteries to store electricity and more recently a joint venture meant to develop data centers.
“We’re happy to have a string of successes here,” said Michael Loges, New Albany’s economic development manager.
“We’re really pleased with all our efforts and planning and investments that is culminating in some investments and real opportunities for folks in central Ohio.”
“We’ve been working with Pharmavite for not quite a year. From the early days of the conversation with the company we could tell they were a real match in terms their ethos as a company and where we choose to invest as a community.”
Along with Amgen, the deal with Pharmavite helps fill out New Albany’s commitment to health and life businesses, he said.
Loges expects Pharmavite to start construction this fall.
Separately, Forsee Power will set up shop at 4555 Lyman Dr. in Hilliard in an existing building that has 138,000 square feet.
The building will have office, manufacturing and research and development capabilities.
The company builds and develops batteries for autonomous vehicles and robotics, agriculture and construction equipment, buses and trucks, and trains and boats.
“There are tremendous opportunities to grow on our target market segments: our field-proven experience, our ability to scale up industrial capabilities and to innovate zero-emission solutions for electric vehicle manufacturers will be key assets to rapidly position as a leader in North America,” Christophe Gurtner, the company’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement.
mawilliams@dispatch.com
@BizMarkWilliams
