Horizon Buying Vacant Former Takeda Headquarters in Deerfield

DEERFIELD, IL — A biopharmaceutical company with U.S. operations based in Lake Forest said it plans to buy Takeda Pharmaceuticals' vacant 70-acre corporate campus in Deerfield.

Horizon Therapeutics announced Tuesday it has agreed to buy the three-building, 650,000-square-foot complex in a deal expected to close within the next several months. Company officials plan to move employees to the new buildings north of Lake Cook Road and west of Interstate 294 in the second half of the year.

"Lake County has a rich life sciences ecosystem and we are looking forward to continuing to contribute to and lead the growth of that ecosystem," Tim Walbert, Horizon's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Horizon was founded in 2008, and later that year, it moved from Palo Alto, California, to Skokie with 50 employees and set up operations at the Illinois Technology Park. It later relocated to Northbrook before moving to a office park on Lake Cook Road in Deerfield, where it grew to employ 300 people. In January 2016, it established its U.S. headquarters at 150 S. Saunders Road in Lake Forest, a 160,000-square-foot space with room for up to 500 employees, according to past reports.

Deerfield Mayor Harriet Rosenthal said the village was looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship with Horizon upon its return, according to the company's release.

"I am thrilled to welcome Horizon back to Deerfield," Rosenthal said. "As mayor, it pleases me to see the growth Horizon has achieved during its time in Lake County. Horizon's innovative spirit and its commitment to patients, employees and the communities in which they live and work has been extensively recognized."

Related:
Takeda Wants To Sell Deerfield Headquarters Within 6 Months
Takeda To Vacate Deerfield HQ By End Of 2019
Takeda To Close Deerfield Headquarters, Move 1,000 Jobs To Boston

The buildings Horizon is under contract to buy served as the North American headquarters of Takeda since the Japanese drugmaker built them in 2006 on land it bought from Baxter International. In the decade before former Gov. Bruce Rauner took office in 2014, Takeda reportedly collected more tax credits from the state than any other Illinois business.

After a deal to purchase Dublin-based pharmaceutical company Shire received final approval from regulators in January 2019, the company announced plans to consolidate its U.S. operations in the Boston area and move its remaining 1,000 employees out of the buildings on Takeda Parkway.

Horizon was originally founded using the name Horizon Therapeutics before going public in 2011 as Horizon Pharma, Inc. After it purchased the Irish firm Vidara in 2014, it moved its global headquarters to Dublin and became Horizon Pharma plc. In May 2019, it changed its name to Horizon Therapeutics plc. The company now focuses on the research, development and commercialization of medicine for rare and rheumatic diseases, according to its release.

"We have experienced significant growth during the last three years including adding more than 200 employees in 2019," Walbert said. "This new campus gives us the flexibility to accommodate our current employees as well as our anticipated long-term growth."

Horizon intends to add more than 100 new employees in the Chicago area during the course of 2020, according to Geoff Curtis, its chief communications officer. More than 500 of the company's roughly 1,200 employees work out of the Lake Forest office, which will be subleased once the move is complete, he said. The company also has about 60 workers based at a downtown Chicago office at 10 S. Wacker Drive, which Curtis said he did not expect to change with the purchase of the Deerfield campus.

Horizon's broker in the transaction, which was first reported Monday by Crain's Chicago Business, was CBRE, the company announced.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said he was pleased to see Horizon continued to grow and develop medicines that change lives, according to the company's release.

"Illinois' biopharmaceutical industry has a deep talent pool, and a bright future," Pritzker said. "We'll continue to invest in making sure that this industry can continue to be a crucial job creation engine, as well as developing treatments and potential cures for patients locally and globally."

UPDATE: Horizon Therapeutics Closes $115 Million Deal For Takeda Campus