| Philip
Morris plans $300 million center
by Heather Hayes
Virginia Business
May 2005
Philip Morris USA is burnishing
Richmond’s reputation
as a tobacco town. The nation’s largest tobacco
company plans to build a $300 million research and
technology center in the Virginia BioTechnology Research
Park in downtown Richmond.
The 475,000-square-foot facility will employ more
than 500 scientists, engineers and support staff. Philip
Morris, which moved its headquarters to Richmond two
years ago, already employs more than 6,400 workers
in the capital city.
Incorporated in Virginia in
1919, the tobacco company has always had a presence
in Richmond, but it was based
in New York City until moving into the former Reynolds
Metals headquarters. New York is still the home of
Philip Morris’ parent company, Altria Group.
The headquarters relocation
and the new research center have reasserted Philip
Morris’ prominence
in Richmond. The company was for many years the area’s
largest private employer, largely because of a massive
cigarette factory built in South Richmond in the early
1970s. Capital One, however, overtook Philip Morris
as top employer in recent years as Richmond’s
tobacco industry waned.
The new project will have
a dramatic effect on Richmond’s
BioTechnology Park. When completed in 2007, the research
center will nearly double the 575,000-square-foot space
currently occupied by about 45 park tenants. Those
tenants include biotechnology companies, the United
Network for Organ Sharing, research institutes of Virginia
Commonwealth University and state laboratories. Economic
development officials also believe the Philip Morris
facility will attract other businesses to the area,
near the Richmond Coliseum.
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