More than 80% of the potential $100 million in tax credits
Eli Lilly could receive for its expansion in Kenosha County would be for capital investments, according to a
Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. staff review supporting the incentive award.
The Indiana-based pharmaceutical giant is planning to invest $3 billion and create 750 new jobs at new facilities in Bristol in Kenosha County. The expansion project is located near the former Nexus Pharmaceuticals plant Eli Lilly bought for nearly $1 billion in Pleasant Prairie.
Earlier this month,
WEDC announced it would offer Eli Lilly up to $100 million in tax credits if the company created at least 700 new jobs and invested at least $2.2 billion. The credits are available from the agency’s Enterprise Zone program, which generally gives a credit of 7% of eligible payrolls and 10% of eligible capital expenditures.
The staff review, obtained under Wisconsin’s open records law, details the timing of Eli Lilly’s planned investments and how job creation could potentially scale up in the coming years.
Eli Lilly is expanding in Bristol to meet demand for its injectable-based medicines, especially Mounjaro and Zepbound, which are used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity respectively.
The company considered expanding at campuses in North Carolina. While there was available space for additional production, the company determined the existing sites may not be sufficient to satisfy long-term capacity needs, according to the staff review.
Company officials also determined while the former Nexus facility would help meet some immediate production needs, longer-term demand would require investment in larger facilities.
Eli Lilly ended up acquiring 52 acres across three parcels in Bristol, including a 323,000-square-foot warehouse.
According to the staff review, the warehouse building “has to be significantly retrofitted and further expanded” to meet the company’s needs. The expansion would add another 500,000 square feet to the building.
The company plans to spend $283 million on land costs, $385 million on new construction, $830 million on renovations, $621 million on equipment, $68 million on furniture and fixtures and nearly $46 million on IT.
The project will include two pre-filled syringe filling lines, an empty bay for future expansion, five device assembly lines, eight device packaging lines, one vial packaging line, lab spaces, controlled temperature warehouse space, offices, cafeteria and other common spaces.
The $2.2 billion in capital investment ramps up over the next three years with $207 million in 2025, $418 million in 2026 and $614 million in 2027 before wrapping up with $574 million in 2028 and $421 million in 2029.
WEDC’s contract with Eli Lilly offers the company up to $82 million in tax credits for its capital investments. Those investments must be maintained through the end of 2036.
To earn the remaining $18 million in tax credits for job creation, Eli Lilly needs to add 21 jobs this year, a total of 124 by the end of 2026, 378 total new jobs by the end of 2027, 612 by the end of 2028 and 700 by the end of 2029. The company would need to maintain that level of employment through 2036 to earn all of the tax credits.
The contract also sets minimum job levels for the company to earn any tax credits.
As for the types of jobs, a plurality of them, 296 specifically, would be in operator roles with an average starting wage of $26.50. Another 101 positions would be for quality assurance representatives with an average starting salary of $42.31.
The average hourly wage across all 700 positions is $34.69, according to the staff review. Here’s a breakdown of the expected job creation by title:
| Job |
Total Employees |
Average Starting Wage |
| Operator |
296 |
$26.50 |
| Quality assurance reps |
101 |
$42.31 |
| Mechanic |
52 |
$27.40 |
| Line leader |
37 |
$32.69 |
| Lab analysis |
36 |
$42.31 |
| Engineering techs |
34 |
$40.87 |
| Process engineer |
29 |
$49.52 |
| Tech supervisors |
26 |
$43.27 |
| Operations supervisor |
20 |
$43.27 |
| Lab techs |
19 |
$40.87 |
| Automation engineer |
17 |
$49.52 |
| Automation techs |
15 |
$40.87 |
| Operations associate |
10 |
$42.31 |
| Operations manager |
8 |
$67.31 |
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