CSL Behring continues to be a leader. The Bourbonnais Township company, along Route 50, is moving forward
again --- announcing a 1.8 million square-foot expansion.
It’s called “CSL South 2030”...the project is so huge, it’ll be 12 years before it’s completed. The Kankakee County area’s largest manufacturer is now involved in the county’s largest investment ever.
The current CSL campus now will be known as CSL North. The addition will be put immediately south of the existing manufacturing plant, which has been on 64 acres at the corner of Armour Road and Illinois Route 50.
Today’s (Thursday) Kankakee County Economic Alliance meeting at Olivet Nazarne University included the project details.
The Daily-Journal provides specific details about the manufacturing plans...
Both Stewart and Abell declined to state what the ultimate investment could be for the Melbourne, Australia-based manufacturer of plasma-derived medication.
“The investment in this area is significant,” Stewart said.
The company is completing work on the 300,000-square-foot expansion for the seven-story tower building. That project cost an estimated $240 million.
The site where this expansion will unfold is within the 74 acres which was formerly the location for the Bunge Edible Oil manufacturing plant. Bunge ceased production here at the end of 2016.
CSL entered into a $17-million contract to purchase the property in July 2017. It took possession of the 74 acres in January.
“We are building buildings to satisfy the needs of the patients who rely on these medications,” she said. “This is about patient needs and demand for our product. These are life-saving medications that go around the world.”
The site employs more than 1,400. Stewart said it is far too early to speculate on how many workers CSL could have once the project is complete. As recently as Sept. 1, 2015, the company had a local workforce of 1,100.
While CSL is a global leader in biotherapy medications, it always is exploring new treatment opportunities for its highly-specialized products.
The company’s biotherapies treat a variety of disorders, including hemophilia and hereditary angioedema. The local plant also produces Zemaira, a medication used to treat the inherited disorder, Alpha-1. Zemaira helps protect the lungs of people whose bodies do not produce the protein needed to protect their lungs.
The current expansion is geared to increase production of medications built with albumin. Albumin is used to treat, in part, blood loss and burn patients. The ongoing expansion also allows for increased production of intermediates used for product development here and its sister sites around the world.
CSL South will begin at the base of the seven-story manufacturing tower. From there, a variety of one-, two- and three-story manufacturing and processing buildings will be constructed during the next 10 years.
In addition to the new construction, buildings bought from Bunge will be used as well.
94.1 WGFA {Daily Journal}
