Alexion’s planned new downtown home.
Developer Carter Winstanley said he’s confident Alexion Pharmaceuticals won’t abandon plans to move its headquarters into his new $100 million building at 100 College St., despite reports that the company may be acquired by a larger pharmaceutical firm.
If it ever did abandon plans, he’d continue with the building and find a new tenant, he said.
Winstanley made the remarks Monday in the wake of news reports that Roche Holding AG, the world’s largest producer of cancer drugs, may buy Alexion.
An Alexion spokeswoman dismissed the report as “rumors.” The company makes Soliris, an expensive drug used to treat rare blood diseases.
Alexion is set to be the main tenant in the 11-story building called 100 College Street, currently under construction inside the Route 34 Corridor between College and York streets. Lured by the promise of up to $51 million in state aid, Alexion (a company originally hatched in New Haven’s Science Park) announced plans to relocate its headquarters from Cheshire to New Haven. Winstanley broke ground on the building in June and plans to have it ready by mid-2015, he said.
“It’s nothing more than a rumor,” Winstanley said of the possible acquisition. “I have a signed lease with Alexion. They continue to push very aggressively for a building on that site, so I’m not taking the rumor seriously.”
“I really am not concerned” about the potential takeover, he said. “I have not seen anything that leads me to believe that they are going anywhere other than New Haven.” Winstanley has been Alexion’s landlord in Cheshire since 2000. “There are always rumors in the marketplace. I’ve worked with Alexion for many, many years and I’ve heard about people talking about buying Alexion for a very long time.”
Thomas MacMillan File Photo
Winstanley at a 100 College press event.
He noted that “if Alexion gets bought out and moves from the state, they don’t get any of the state benefits” they’ve been promised as part of the governor’s “First Five” program.
Winstanley said he will continue with the building with or without Alexion.
“If something of this nature were to happen, can I guarantee that Alexion would land here? That’s outside of my decision-making,” he said. But “can I guarantee that the building will be filled? I can.”
“If Alexion doesn’t come for any reason, I still am obligated to put a building here,” he said.
Winstanley said Alexion has signed a lease to use three-quarters of 100 College Street. Yale has signed a lease to use the other quarter.
The building “may look different if Alexion were to pull out,” he said, but he would still proceed with a new tenant.
[(Winstanley) noted that "if Alexion gets bought out and moves from the state, they don't get any of the state benefits" they've been promised as part of the governor's "First Five" program.]
If they get bought out by Roche, they won't need that money. If they get bought out by Roche, they will 100% get split up and moved around. I've seen a dozen friends have the pharma companies they work for be bought out, and it always means a move or a layoff.
Winstanley would do better to not address the rumors directly, and state strongly that this building is happening no matter who is the main tenant. By saying a buyout won't change anything, he sounds disingenuous.