Gilding The Lilly

It was announced with much fanfare that Lilly Pharmaceutical is going to build a new facility on Rt. 78 west of Allentown. Attending the announcement were all our elected officials, including presidential hopeful Josh Shapiro. The show featured that the manufacturing plant would cost $3.5 billion and employ 850 workers. They will produce the new injectable for the weight challenged.

Local media articles mentioned state incentives, including a new entrance/exit for Adams Rd.. We apparently offered more incentives than hundreds of other areas, which also entered the LIlly contest. The big winner of course is David Jaindl, who is selling the parcel to Lilly. More so, he owns the adjoining land, whose value is greatly enhanced by the new exit.

While there are plans to widen Rt. 22 through Allentown, I expect that you'll still be sitting in traffic on 22, long after the new ramp is built for Jaindl. Supposedly a pill is in development to replace the injectable for the heavyset. We'll see how long, if ever, there are 850 employees at Lilly Lehigh Valley.