By Al Barbarino
TOM ATTIVISSIMO
Invagen Pharmaceuticals is set to bring 350 jobs to the city’s most heavily employed borough.
The producer of generic prescription medicines, also known as Acent Pharmaceuticals, will expand out from its three Hauppauge, NY locations into a 250,000 s/f, 16-acre facility located at 550 South Research Place in Central Islip, N.Y.
The total project, including equipment, renovations and building costs, will cost Acent $39 million, said Tom Attivissimo, senior director at Greiner-Maltz who represented the seller, Creativewear, LLC, but he would not disclose the amount his client received in the deal.
Acent had previously set its sights on locations in New Jersey before settling on the Long Island facility, Attivissimo said.
They got a nudge from Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the way of $1.8 million in state Excelsior Job Program tax credits, as well as $3.5 million in property tax abatements from Islip’s Industrial Development Agency, according to a Greiner-Maltz statement.
Before production goes into full swing, Acent will first need to establish their production line and seek FDA certification, but ultimately the company forecasts 350 new jobs will be created over the next five years, Attivissimo said.
“This is a substantial deal for the community,” he said. “The fact that they stayed here was a good thing.”
As of December, Nassau and Suffolk counties had an average unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, which was nearly two percentage points lower than the citywide average, according to data from the New York State Labor Department.
