Analytical Biological Services will add new labs and about 35 new employees.
A Delaware-paid $4.2 million renovation of a New Castle biological services company will set the stage for it to double its workforce in the First State.
Analytical Biological Services Inc. is retrofitting 30,000 square feet of space in New Castle for its new office headquarters and lab space.
The company, part of the state’s life sciences sector, use two grants from the Delaware Strategic Fund to meet significant projected growth and add 36 new high-paying, full-time, skilled trade and professional-level positions – more than doubling its current workforce.
The announcement was one of three economic good-news stories released Monday afternoon. The other two said Investor Cash Management of Chicago, Ill., would put its new $15.37 million headquarters in Delaware and that B&M Meats Inc. will add 80,000 square feet and 190 new jobs in Wilmington.
For more than 30 years, Analytical Biological Services has provided cell culture services, gene editing, human biospecimens, cell and tissue preparations and analyses, and samples storage. Its clients include nearly every major pharmaceutical and biotechnology company in the world that is involved in early-stage drug discovery or diagnostics research.
Charles Saller
“When we realized we had a shortage of lab space for them to use as they grow their business, we made sure there was funding available for what we call Lab Space Grants,” said Gov. John Carney in a press release. “The life science industry is essential to both public health and Delaware’s economic future … We want companies that start here to stay and grow here.”
The company’s leadership asked the Council on Development Finance for a Performance Grant of $262,260 and $1 million from Delaware’s Lab Space Grant incentive program.
The Performance Grant, to be drawn over the next three years, is for the creation of 36 new full-time high-quality Delaware jobs ranging from skilled trade to professional level. Qualified Delaware residents will have first opportunity for employment.
Analytical Biological Services will lease 30,000 square feet of a 48,000-square-foot office building in New Castle that will be purchased by ABS BioAccelerator LLC, a separate but related entity.
The company will renovate 10,000 square feet for offices, and the Lab Space Grant will help ABS invest $3.7 million to renovate 20,000 of those square feet at roughly $188.13 per square foot for lab space.
The grant requires ABS to remain in Delaware for five years.
The company employs 33 full-time workers at its current location in Wilmington’s Cornell Business Park. Its growth has been driven by investment in a larger and more highly trained business development team, along with continuous improvement of processes and business systems.
Their ability to increase revenues has resulted in what will now be further investment in more staff and equipment — all to remain right here in Delaware.
In 2019, ABS engaged the services of Delaware Prosperity Partnership — Delaware’s nonprofit public-private economic development organization facilitating the important conversations that drive growth, increase investment and support the talent needs of statewide employers — to help identify suitable R&D and lab space to accommodate their expanding needs.
Charles Saller, owner and CEO of Analytical Behavior Services, said the company’s roots are in Delaware, where it works with organizations such as Incyte and the Gene-Editing Institute of ChristianaCare to foster drug discovery research.
“New laboratories and headquarters are major investments, and the Strategic Fund Grants are essential in enabling us to continue to grow in Delaware,” he said.
The remaining 18,000 square feet of space in the new building may be leased or reserved for potential ABS company growth.
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