A case in point is the pharmaceutical industry. Two years after launching a $1 billion expansion of its Indianapolis operations, Eli Lilly announced in July a key component of the plan -- a $100 million, 275,000-sq.-ft. (25,500-sq.-m.) research facility scheduled to open in 2003. The new building, which will provide workspace for approximately 370 scientists and support personnel, is part of a 10-year plan to invest substantially in the Hoosier State. How substantial is the investment? The pharmaceutical giant plans to add 7,500 new jobs to the area by the time the expansion is complete. This investment is comparable to a Fortune 500 company relocating to Indianapolis every two years over the course of the investment period.
      "As long as the economics are right for us to stay in Indiana, we will stay here," says Lilly spokesman Ed Sagebiel of the decision to expand in the state rather than locate the new facilities elsewhere. "We will try to attract local talent as well as the best talent outside of Indianapolis to come to our city. We believe that Eli Lilly, the state and the city of Indianapolis have something to offer people living outside the state at this time."
      Since 1999, Lilly has added 2,000 jobs, which is more than 25 percent of the employment side of the expansion. In the same time frame, the company has started or financially committed to $920 million in new capital projects scheduled to be completed over the next four to five years.
      In other pharmaceutical industry news involving sites in Indiana, Baxter Healthcare Corp. has completed a $219 million acquisition of Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions. The deal includes the purchase of Cook's Curry Pike campus in Bloomington, which has six buildings and a newly expanded, 120,000-sq.-ft. (11,000-sq.-m.) manufacturing facility.
      Several other industries in the state are also enjoying business expansion activity. V4 Consulting is adding 520 new, high-wage jobs to its expanding headquarters in Indianapolis, and Trilithic, a telecommunications company, has chosen Indianapolis to be its new headquarters. It is building a $5.6 million facility in the Park East industrial park, where more than 120 new employees will begin working in 2003. Also in Indianapolis, eSkye Solutions is expanding its headquarters, with an $8.9 million investment, adding 91 high-wage jobs to the payroll.
      Graham Packaging Co. is investing $25 million to build a new manufacturing facility in the Vanderburgh Industrial Park near Evansville. The project will create 69 new jobs. Roll Forming Corp. is building a $48 million plant at the Clark Maritime Center in Jeffersonville. It will employ 210 people.