Pfizer breaks ground on new R&D campus in St. Louis suburb

In late June, Pfizer, the nation’s second-largest pharmaceutical supplier, broke ground on BioPlace, a $250 million, 285,000-sf R&D and process development facility in Chesterfield, Mo.

The new campus, when completed in mid 2019, will house the company’s BioTherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences Group, and consolidate more than 450 employees who currently work at multiple locations around St. Louis, including some who working out of leased space in Monsanto’s research center.

Pfizer intends to hire 80 more employees over the coming years to support research at this 32-acre site.

The 32-acre campus will allow Pfizer to consolidate more than 450 of its employees who are scattered at various leased sites around St. Lous. Image: Clayco

The focus of this facility, according to Pfizer’s website, will be on advancing the company’s portfolio in biologics, vaccines, and gene therapy by “developing manufacturing processes and dosage forms applying state-of-the-art analytical technologies.”

The campus will feature a floor plan with flexible laboratory layouts, scientific casework and utility hookups, open office and collaboration spaces, and increased conferencing technologies where researchers can collaborate.

A partnership of Forum Studio and Ewing Cole designed the architecture, landscaping, engineering, interior, and lab process areas for BioPlace’s research and office spaces. Clayco is the design-builder on this project in tandem with its development subsidiary CRG.

Once completed, Pfizer will lease the space from Clayco and CRG, which is providing turnkey build-to-suit services, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.