ABC Labs expanding campus

by David Reed

October 16,2009

When Analytical Bio-Chemistry Laboratories moved its pharmaceutical division to fancy new digs at Discovery Ridge about a year ago, its chemical division stayed behind on the original campus near the city's eastern border.

ABC Labs is expanding and renovating its original campus, a project that will include a 10,000-square-foot addition (on the left side of this rendering) to the main building.

The pharmaceutical division of ABC Labs had a 90,000-square-foot building at the University of Missouri's research park and the chemical division was left in a sprawl of buildings that includes several deteriorating structures and metal outbuildings.

The chemists and other scientists and technicians are spread out in three buildings. Workers bringing samples from one group to another have to walk outside, which can get dicey when it's raining or there is snow or ice on the ground.

"It's inefficient," said Scott Ward, general manager of ABC's Chemical Services Division, "but that's just how we grew."

ABC Labs continues to grow. Kristein King, vice president for marketing, said the company has hired 17 people since June, more than making up for the nine people laid off earlier in the year.

And the approximately 100 workers in the chemical division are going to get their own new and renovated work space. ABC Labs earlier this month unveiled an expansion plan for the original 56-acre campus that includes a $4 million, 10,000-square-foot laboratory addition to the 28,000-square-foot main building.

Much of the work done by the chemical division involves testing of crop and soil samples involved in the use of pesticides that need regulatory approval, Ward said. ABC scientists will test the residue on sample material and they will determine how the chemical will break down in the environment and how it will metabolize.

A drawing of what the original campus will look like after the construction project is finished. The main building is on the right of this drawing and the 10,000-square-foot addition is on the left side of the main building.

The improvements, which include various renovations and the demolition of deteriorating structures, will make the work flow more efficient and make the facilities more in line with modern laboratory practices, Ward said.

ARCO Construction Co. of St. Louis headed the Discovery Ridge construction project and was hired again to coordinate the construction of the laboratory for the chemical division.

ABC Labs President Byron Hill said the decision was based on ARCO's price, its projected timeline and its track record for including local businesses in the process. Hill said 80 percent of the total construction project at Discovery Ridge was done by contractors from Columbia and elsewhere in mid-Missouri. He added that financing for the construction was being negotiated with a local bank.