City Reels as Drug Firm Plans to Close 2M SF

ANN ARBOR, MI-The city, one of the best residential and commercial markets in the suffering Michigan economy, had a major blow recently when the largest private employer, drug maker Pfizer, announced it is going to shutter two million sf in two research and development plants here. The company is also closing a plant in Kalamazoo, MI; as well as two manufacturing sites in Brooklyn, NY and Omaha. More than 10,000 jobs will be cut at the company worldwide; including more than 2,100 in the Ann Arbor area.

Commercial real estate experts say the residential market will suffer the most at first, as scientists move to other Pfizer sites across the country. The area already had a glut of lab space, says Jeff Hauptman, president of locally based Oxford Commercial. “We had 26,000 sf of lab space we were trying to lease before the Pfizer closure announcement. We ended up leasing it as office and warehouse space. University of Michigan had 22,000 sf of lab space sitting vacant, they’re removing the labs and leasing it as office.”

Pfizer has 173 acres of land in the Ann Arbor area it plans to close, though the company has not divulged what it plans to do with the property. Hauptman says if the company decides to put the land up for sale, the land could be split up. “There are many local developers who would love to have their hands on that land,” Hauptman tells GlobeSt.com. “It depends on what kind of pricing Pfizer will look for, and if it would make sense for the developers.”