Medical-device maker Steris is planning a major expansion in North Carolina — one that could bring hundreds of jobs to Lee County.
The company, which has operations in the Research Triangle Park area and a U.S. headquarters in Ohio, is planning to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build a factory in Sanford.
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Details of the plan were made public Wednesday during a special meeting of the state Department of Commerce’s Economic Investment Committee. The company later confirmed the plans.
Steris plans to invest at least $600 million in the factory and create 335 jobs over a four-year period, paying a minimum annual average wage of roughly $70,000, which is about 17% above the county average for private sector jobs. The jobs would be created over a four-year period, through 2030, officials said. The investment is expected to be made by the end of 2030 as well. The jobs would be in addition to the 186 employees the company already has in the state, officials said.
The plan — which is projected to expand the North Carolina economy by $1.8 billion — is being supported by state and local incentives.
The state committee on Wednesday approved an incentives package including up to $3.2 million in tax breaks. The company would also receive community college training worth about $536,000 and infrastructure support from the state Department of Transportation worth about $500,000, among other incentives, for a total incentives package worth about $4.3 million.
The Lee County Board of Commissioners on July 13 approved an incentives package worth up to $12.9 million for the project, which would be paid out in installments over seven years — provided the company at the center of the deal meets hiring and investment targets. The Sanford City Council on July 21 approved a similar package worth up to $11 million.
State and local incentives are only paid out if the company meets incremental targets focused on things such as hiring, wage and investment.
Steris focuses largely on sterilization products for the healthcare industry. The new Steris facility is expected to serve as an advanced chemistry manufacturing center, where the company plans to develop and make detergents, sterilants and disinfectants and other products.
The company had also considered expanding in Minnesota, but the company chose North Carolina because it offered long-term strategic advantages — including access to abundant technical talent and land for expansion, state officials said during Wednesday’s meeting.
Dan Carestio, the chief executive of Steris, said the decision came after an analysis of existing facilities and customer demand. The company plans to transfer related manufacturing and distribution functions from Missouri and Minnesota once the North Carolina facility is finished.
The new facility “will allow us to accelerate innovation, expand capacity and optimize our U.S. chemistries manufacturing and distribution network,” Carestio said in a statement. “Our customers save lives every day, and with this investment we will be well positioned to support their needs for years to come.”
The expansion reinforces the state’s reputation as a magnet for the life sciences industry, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said. “Decades of excellence in manufacturing and innovation have developed the world-class talent, research, and supply chain that continues to attract global companies and drive long-term economic growth across our state," Stein said in a statement.
Lee County, and counties outside the Triangle’s core, have lured thousands of biotech and medical companies in recent years due to the relatively low cost of land, access to workforce talent and training, and proximity to a cluster of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in and around Research Triangle Park.
Steris is expected to build the 600,000-square-foot facility at Helix Innovation Park at The Brickyard, the company said in a news release Wednesday. That’s where Japanese pharmaceutical company Kyowa Kirin in September broke ground on its first North American manufacturing facility, which is expected to become fully operational in 2027.
Astellas Pharma in 2022 opened a gene-therapy plant in Sanford, where it said it would create 200 jobs.
Pfizer Inc. has also employed hundreds at a gene-therapy plant in the county, but the company is undergoing a broader, multibillion-dollar cost-cutting plan. In 2024, it said it would cut about 200 workers in Sanford after a failed clinical trial for a muscular dystrophy treatment. Pfizer also asked state officials last year to cancel an incentives agreement after it was unable to meet targets tied to the deal, which promised 325 jobs in Sanford.
The addition of Steris “is further proof of our community’s strength as an emerging hub for healthcare and related manufacturing,” Jimmy Randolph, the chief executive of the Sanford Area Growth Alliance, said in a statement.
Lee County Board of Commissioners Chair Samantha Martin added that the jobs promised by Steris will create important opportunities for county residents, enabling them “to have meaningful careers and prosperous lives without leaving home.”