With local and national officials on hand, Siemens Healthcare yesterday morning officially opened the $100 million, 115,000-square-foot expansion of its Coney Street biotechnology facility.
The expansion will enable the facility to produce over 1 billion diagnostic tests annually. The previously 400,000-square-foot facility produces 600 million such tests.
"Early and accurate diagnoses of disease, along with consistent monitoring of patient therapy, are important components of high-quality medical care that helps save lives," said Donal Quinn, CEO of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics.
"The critical diagnostic tests that make early diagnosis possible are manufactured right here in Walpole. ... We are grateful for the support and cooperation we receive from the town and the community."
Selectman Al DeNapoli, who served as liaison to the company throughout the expansion, said the project is "just the type of industry that we want to bring to the town." He cited its "clean" production processes and its potential to ease the residential tax burden.
According to DeNapoli, the expansion was made possible through a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan worked out between the company, the town and the state. Under the TIF agreement, Siemens is exempted from paying 10 percent of its property taxes each year for 10 years.
The rationale, DeNapoli said, was to offer an incentive to the company to expand in Walpole rather than moving elsewhere.
In return, Siemens will donate $40,000 to the town over the next 10 years, and make a good faith effort to hire local employees for the estimated 70 new jobs in the new facility.
"We believe Walpole is an ideal location," said Jim Hughes, a Siemens vice president.
Flanked by massive video projections of the celebration and clutching large, ceremonial scissors, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., poised over the bright red ribbon Siemens had set up at the front of a temporary platform Monday morning.
"You know this means you guys have to go back to work," Kerry joked, addressing a crowd that included numerous employees.
As Kerry held one handle of the scissors, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics CEO Donal Quinn held the other.
"We declare it open," Kerry said as the blades cut neatly through the ribbon. With that, a more than two-year project that involved cooperation between the company, state and local officials came to fruition.
"I'm very proud to support local economic growth," Kerry said in a 10-minute speech that celebrated an "economic expansion" representative of the kind of industries that are necessary to secure the economic future of the state and the country.
"Everyone is chasing that next new idea" to create a global race that is "more competitive than at any time in history," Kerry said. Life sciences and biotechnologies "are the places where we are going to build most of our future," he said.
He then launched into a brief, sharp critique of the nation's healthcare system. Considering the money spent on each patient across the nation, relative to results achieved, Kerry said, "we do not deliver the best outcome per dollar spent."
Walpole Town Administrator Michael Boynton and Economic Development Commission Chairman Larry Pitman sat on the stage with Kerry and Siemens executives. Selectmen Chairman Cathie Winston, Vice Chairman Cliff Snuffer and DeNapoli attended the event as did new Economic Development Officer Stephanie Mercandetti.
