Takeda To Vacate Deerfield Headquarters By Year's End

DEERFIELD, IL — Takeda Pharmaceuticals plans to have all employees out of its Deerfield headquarters by the end of the year, the company told staff Tuesday. Once its 1,000 remaining Illinois workers are out of its 777,000-square-foot campus, the company aims to complete the sale of its property by April 2020, according to a spokesperson.

This week's announcements mark the first disclosure of a timeline for the drugmaker's departure from Deerfield. The company announced last September it would shutter the site and relocate an unspecified number of employees. Company representatives said the move would simplify its U.S. operations and improve collaboration across the company.

Takeda is a 238-year-old Japanese firm that has operated in Illinois for more than 40 years. It is consolidating its North American operations in Massachusetts after its acquisition of the Dublin-based drugmaker Shire, which had its U.S. headquarters in the Boston area. The $62.2 billion deal received final approval in January.

Takeda spokesperson Julia Ellwanger said some employees would be working remotely, while others would be moving to a transitional location. The company's location at Shire's former offices in Bannockburn will function as a transition site as needed, she said, declining to say how many positions would be based there or how long the Bannockburn site would be operational.

"Integration activities with respect to certain groups that currently reside in Deerfield are ongoing, and we are encouraged by the progress we have made thus far," Ellwanger said.

"Managers and their teams are working to consider employee needs and the needs of the business. Where possible, roles have been designated as remote or field based, while others require co-location due to the nature of the work."

Ellwanger said the company would not be releasing numbers of employees being relocated or working remotely because discussions with employees were ongoing. But all employees were informed last year that the earliest Deerfield-based employees would see their employment end as a result of the merger would be Aug. 30, regardless of when they are notified, she said.

"In cases where there isn’t a solution that meets the business and/or an employee's needs, the employee will be provided with severance and transition support programs," Ellwanger said.

In 2006, Takeda built its corporate headquarters west of Interstate 294 and north of Lake Cook Road on a 70-acre site it purchased from Baxter International. As of 2017, the company had 1,700 employees in its three buildings at the site.

"In just eight years, the company quickly grew in the United States from three employees to more than 3,000, establishing itself as the one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies in the United States," Mark Booth, former president of Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, said at its opening. "This remarkable growth drove the need for a new campus to help support our continued success, and we are pleased to have found a home in Deerfield."

At the time of Takeda's purchase of Shire, the two companies had a combined global workforce of 54,000 people, according to the Chicago Tribune, which first reported the closure date of the Deerfield facility. Takeda said at the time of the merger it planned to reduce the total workforce by 6 to 7 percent, which equates to about 3,500 workers, according to Reuters.

In a statement last fall, state Sen. Julie Morrison, a Deerfield Democrat, blamed former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and his administration for Takeda's departure.

"This is a devastating blow to our community. I'm disappointed in the move. I'm even more disappointed that the Rauner administration did nothing to prevent these job losses," Morrison said, calling it "another example of the governor's inability to run this state and focus on what matters."

John Conrad, CEO of the Illinois Biotechonology Organization, told Crain's Chicago Business the news wasn't necessarily bad for Deerfield. He pointed to the Illinois Science and Technology Park at the former G.D. Searle headquarters in Skokie, where about 1,500 jobs were eliminated in 2003 after Pfizer purchased Pharmacia.

"The Skokie tech park has more jobs and workers now than when Pfizer had facilities there," Conrad said.

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity records obtained by the Illinois Policy Institute show Takeda received more than $60 million in tax credits from 2003 to 2013 in exchange for a pledge to create 566 new jobs, making it the largest recipient of tax credits during that period, which spanned the administrations of former governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn.

Related:

• Takeda To Close Deerfield HQ, Move 1,000 Jobs To Boston
• Takeda Pharmaceuticals Relocates Some Of Its 1,700 Employees In Deerfield
• Walgreens Moving Over 1,000 Workers From Deerfield To Chicago
• Mondelez Makes Move From Deerfield To Fulton Market