PETERSBURG, Va. -- Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin received a unique, behind-the-scenes tour of the AMPAC Fine Chemicalspharmaceutical facility in Petersburg Friday morning.
AMPAC President Jeff Butler said the company is "ahead of schedule" for it's three-year plan set in motion last year.
"We’ll hit both of those marks, this year," Butler said about the $25 million investment and 150 projected area jobs.
As the cluster of pharmaceutical facilities in grow, the nation is expected to see more medicine being developed in Petersburg.
Butler said the company is creating end-to-end solutions at the facility with their nearby partners Phlow and Civica.
"Here is Petersburg, and here is AMPAC, and here is the pharmaceutical cluster working together to meet a real need, a national need," Youngkin said. "This is my third trip to Petersburg and it is just the beginning of a model of how a governor and our administration and a city can partner and make a difference."
The governor is prepared to soon sign the state’s budget, which includes nearly $30 million for Petersburg to upgrade its water and sewer lines going directly to the pharmaceutical cluster.
The general manager of the Petersburg AMPAC site said it was important for Youngkin "to see the inner actions between our Company and the City of Petersburg."
“Incredibly impressed, you know the investment, the commitment to people and... the investment in Petersburg," Youngkin told CBS 6 Senior Reporter Wayne Covil after touring the plant. "You can’t drive up and down the road out here and not see it has got a ripple effect on everything."
AMPAC Fine Chemicals, which bought the shuttered Boehringer Ingelheim Plant in 2016, ramped up operations in 2019 with a second manufacturing building that is now up and running. A third building is expected to be online in early 2023.
Petersburg leaders believe the governor has a long-term commitment to the city.
"You see a true commitment to the City of Petersburg like never before," said Petersburg Mayor Samuel Parham, who recognized June 17 as AMPAC Day in the city.
With money in the state budget to upgrade water and sewer to the pharmaceutical cluster, the city now looking at other ways to upgrade the area, which could include a new fire station, near the pharmaceutical plants.
Parham also said he would like to see AMPAC move their California-based headquarters to Petersburg.
