Government and business officials, along with officers from Arizona Chemical, broke ground Wednesday for a new $10 million, 27,000-square-foot state-of-the-art Science & Technology Center on its Savannah campus on West Lathrop Avenue.
The center will be home to Arizona Chemical’s U.S. research and development activities and will replace the company’s existing research facility in Savannah.
“This is an exciting day for us,” Carl Bilgrien, vice president–science and technology, said at the ground-breaking ceremony. “As a company, we are committed to a vision of being a global leader in innovative, sustainable chemical solutions, and our newest (science and technology) center will provide us with the resources to achieve that vision.”
The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company, a leading bio-refiner of pine chemicals, currently employs 51 chemists at its Savannah science and technology center and expects to hire between 10 and 20 more after the new center is completed at the end of this year.
“This new center has been designed to provide us with a state-of-the-art research environment in a contemporary facility that will appeal to customers and attract science and technology professionals to Arizona Chemical and to Savannah,” Bilgrien said.
The median salary for chemists at the center is $80,000, according to company spokeswoman Alison Abernathy. Arizona Chemical employs a total of 202 employees in Savannah.
“Our existing Savannah S&T center has been in operation for more than 50 years,” said Paul Williams, director of the center. “We’ve had a strong working relationship with the local community, and we expect that to continue.”