Mylan tight-lipped on plans for second HQ building

July 23, 2016

David Singer
Observer Reporter

Generic pharmaceutical giant Mylan N.V. is planning to expand its administrative headquarters operations by one-third in Southpointe II after the company received approval Monday for height variances on a five-story building that would connect to its existing office space.

A pedestrian bridge connecting both office buildings would be constructed at each building’s second floor, according to design plans submitted to the Cecil Township Zoning Hearing Board.

Attorney Chad Wissinger, representing Mylan, presented plans, showing a 15-foot height variance to allow the proposed pedestrian bridge to extend up to 80 feet so vehicle traffic could pass underneath on Mylan Boulevard.

Cecil Township officials initially declined to release application documents from Mylan, and said their solicitor recommended a formal Right-to-Know request should be filed. The documents were released late Wednesday afternoon, just after the RTK request was filed.

The documents requested were presented in a public forum Monday and should be able to be reviewed by any requesting party, according to Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act.

According to the documents received, Mylan plans to complete a 188,000-square-foot office building by early 2018.

Mylan officials did not respond to repeated requests for information about the building, how many employees currently work in the headquarters building at 1000 Mylan Boulevard, or how many new hires were expected.

When Mylan held an open house for its new, 280,000-square-foot headquarters in Southpointe II in December 2013, it had just received 500 employees who moved from its original Southpointe headquarters. The company employs about 25,000 around the world.

Mylan is the largest producer of generic drugs in the U.S., and has a stated corporate goal of reaching 7 billion people with access to high-quality medicine. Its revenues at the end of 2014 stood at $7.72 billion.

Mylan completed an inversion in its acquisition of the generic drug assets of Abbott Laboratories in February 2015 as part of a $5.3 billion deal, allowing it to organize in the Netherlands. The move decreased Mylan’s U.S. tax rate from 25 to 21 percent and is expected to decrease into the teens over the next few years.