MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The estimated 1.2 million square feet of space of the former Mylan Pharmaceutical facility, now the WVU Innovation Corporation is soon to be home to a collection of organizations with a variety of disciplines. President of the WVU Innovation Corporation, Stacey Armstrong said the facility is slightly smaller than all of the clinical space at the J. W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
The building is currently completely operational as an oral solid dose pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. In addition to keeping that equipment in top working condition, former Mylan workers have been retained to maintain and secure the grounds.
“Twelve individuals who are passionate about this facility and worked for Mylan, some of the 15 to 20 years,” Armstrong said. “They are our boots on the ground to make sure the facility is well maintained.”
Mylan started operations at the sire in the late 1960’s and continued growth that continued through 2020 when the Viatris acquisition of Mylan was final.
“The way it was developed over time, adding sections on over the years the way Mylan and then Viatris did it really sets it up nicely to be able to section it off into different components,” Armstrong said.
Hope Gas, the new entity created with the Hearthstone Energy purchase of Dominion Energy gas assets, will open their headquarters in 35,000-square feet of the available 55,000-square feet available after the first of the year. The WVU Innovation Corporation occupies the balance of the office space for their operations.
“We have 77,000- square feet of lab space, we have 300,000-square feet of manufacturing space, a significant warehouse space with loading docks and we have a really nice office building,” Armstrong said.
Because the facility is expected to house a very diverse collection of businesses, careful consideration is required. Some businesses may need sterile areas while others may need large spaces or even tightly controlled climate options. Armstrong compared the task to assembling a puzzle with several potential acceptable final options.
“We want to be thoughtful about who we bring in and how they partner with us and how they can work with one another,” Armstrong said. ” You don’t get an opportunity very often to have a very big open, finished, well-cleaned, well-maintained space and get to figure out proactively how to fill it up.”
Armstrong said interviewing potential occupants is ongoing, but there is no timeline to complete the process. South Korean insulin producer, UNDBIO considered the facility, but has recently elected to build a new facility in Morgantown.
“Our goal is to people signed in the next six months,” Armstrong said. “But, depending on the construction or outfitting that’s needed it could be this time next year before