Quest Diagnostics To Bring 1,200 Jobs To Marlborough
Fresh off New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics' announcement that it would purchase UMass Memorial Health Care's laboratory outreach business division, Marlborough officials have confirmed that Quest will be moving into a long-vacant corporate campus in the city.
Michael Berry, aide to Mayor Arthur Vigeant, confirmed the details of a Boston Globe story published just after Noon today that cited an anonymous source familiar with the deal.
The city has worked out a draft tax incentive financing (TIF) agreement with Quest, which the City Council will vote on next week, Berry said.
Quest, which is based in Madison, N.J., plans to invest $75 million to renovate 200,000 square feet of the roughly 600,000-square-foot building and bring in up to 1,200 jobs, 250 of which would be new.
Wendy Bost, a spokeswoman for Quest, said in an email that the company had signed a non-binding letter of intent to lease the property.
She said many of the 1,200 employees would move from Quest's locations in Cambridge and their Athena Diagnostics laboratory in Worcester.
"We expect it will take about 18 to 24 months to complete the new facility assuming the completion of a lease agreement," Bost said.
If the council and state approve the TIF, the deal is a second commercial real estate victory this year for the city. In March, the TJX Cos. announced it would buy the nearby Fidelity Investments campus after working out a TIF deal with officials to bring 1,100 workers to Marlborough.
"It's a fantastic opportunity for the city and we're extremely excited about the prospect of having another significant employer, particularly one as reputable as Quest , come to the area right up the street from TJX," Berry said.
In an announcement last week, UMass said it would take a stake in the lab division it's selling to Quest, and hinted that Quest would be opening an area location in the future.
Berry said talks with Quest picked up in late summer and early fall, presumably as the company was negotiating with UMass Memorial.
Clarification: This story has been updated to include comments from a Quest spokeswoman.
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