G

lobal economics may account for the loss of many Pennsylvania manufacturing jobs. But state leaders know that door can swing both ways, and their job creation strategy increasingly takes on a cosmopolitan accent.
      "We've been very aggressive in going after international companies," Gov. Ed Rendell tells Site Selection. He cites the effectiveness of his inter-departmental Governor's Action Team in responding quickly to strategic opportunities and

Sanofi Pasteur's $150-million flu vaccine plant in Swiftwater will build on the $127 million that French parent company Sanofi Aventis invested in the Commonwealth in 2004.

complementing efforts by the state's Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). And new investments in roads, water resources and industry-ready properties launched in 2003 are now kicking job creation into high gear: "Our focus on rebuilding our business infrastructure has been a significant factor in getting this growth to occur," says Rendell.
      Nowhere is Pennsylvania's willingness to spend vigorously on hard assets more evident than in Swiftwater, where Sanofi Pasteur broke ground in July on a US$150-million expansion of its flu vaccine plant. The company's plans hinged on the state's ability to construct a nine-mile (14.5-km.) wastewater line to the site, a move that totes a $40-million price tag. Federal and state funds, as well as a local tax-increment financing (TIF) measure, will pay for the upgrade.
      Sanofi, the vaccine unit of France's Sanofi Aventis, hopes to have its new 145,000-sq.-ft. (13,006-sq.-m.) facility operational by 2009. The decision will add 100 jobs to the company's 270-acre (109.27-hectare) Swiftwater campus, where it already employs 1,500. Equipped with the latest technologies, the new plant will replace the early-1970s facility the company now uses. Market developments over the coming four years will determine what the company decides to do with its old space.
      Sanofi's latest announcement occurs in the wake of the $127 million it sank into Northeast Pennsylvania during 2004. Of those projects, all but one — the company's new Swiftwater facilities for meningitis vaccine development and manufacturing — were complete as of mid-2005. Its Vaccess America service unit, in fact, quickly surpassed initial work force and space targets at its new presence in downtown Scranton.
      Beyond the job preservation significance of the newest project — the company explored moving its vaccine operations to either Canada or France — the wastewater extension could have other economic development ramifications, explains Chuck Leonard, executive director of Pocono Mountain Industries, a Monroe County economic development group. Depending on how the line is designed, the upgrade might be leveraged for other commercial and industrial users instead of new houses.