Vision laid out for old pill plant

Morrisville might OK stores, homes

MORRISVILLE -- A development team that bought a deserted pill plant and 95 acres in Morrisville wants to build a blend of offices, shops and homes that would have more floor space than New York's tallest skyscraper.

Morrisville Partners in January paid Andrx Pharmaceuticals $22.5 million for the land and a 478,578-square-foot factory near N.C. 54 and Cary Parkway. The partnership includes 1st Carolina Properties of Cary and Casto, a shopping center developer from Columbus, Ohio.

Their plans for the property, to go before the town planning commission today, include as many as 425 apartments or condominiums; 50,000 square feet of offices; 690,000 square feet of stores and restaurants, including a grocery; a movie theater with 2,990 seats and a 140-room hotel.

All told, the project, Park West Village, would include 2.8 million square feet of space, which is about 2 percent more than the Empire State Building in New York.

Of course, the project wouldn't jut 102 stories into the air. But the plan is one of the largest mixed-use developments ever attempted in this western Wake County town.

The developers plan to knock down the old factory and use the entire site to build the project.

"It's an interesting project from the perspective of the evolution of the community," said Benjamin G. Hitchings, the town's planning director. "Now we're beginning to see major redevelopment.

"And that's indicative of the value of the Morrisville location in the center of the region," he continued. "It's harder and harder to find larger tracts of land. And they're willing to demolish a major facility in order to do that."

Morrisville has grown from a business hub near Research Triangle Park to a place more people are calling home.

Park West Village is planned on the same site that gave the town an early boost. Bristol-Myers opened the plant in 1981 to make over-the-counter drugs such as Bufferin. There were 250 people living in Morrisville at the time.

When the plant opened, it generated $55,000 in annual town taxes, double Morrisville's budget at the time. The town's population had quadrupled to 1,022 residents almost a decade later. Today about 15,000 people live in Morrisville, according to town estimates. That number is expected to almost double by 2030.

The growth is what attracted developers. They were able to scoop up the property after another drug company killed plans for an expansion at the plant. Florida drug maker Andrx bought the plant in 2002, months after Bristol-Myers closed. Andrx planned to hire 400 people but pulled the plug on its project two years later. It tried to sell the property for $42 million but found no takers. It eventually unloaded the property at a loss.

The planning and zoning board would have to give its recommendation before the town's board of commissioners would vote on the project. A decision on the project could come as soon as December.

But it might take longer than that, because the project is bigger and more complex than most of the plans that come before the town. Other delays could come as the town hears concerns from residents.

Morrisville Partners did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday.