Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Masters Pharmaceutical revealed today it plans to move its corporate headquarters from Forest Park to Mason, where the fast-growing firm intends to build a 300,000-square-foot office, warehouse and distribution center on 47 acres.
“Total investment would approach $16 million for the land, building and equipment,” said Denny Smith, CEO of Masters, whose parent company is the 360 Pharma Group. “The building is expandable to 550,000 square feet, and we anticipate growing into that.”
Phoenix Architecture of downtown Cincinnati is the architect and Design Build Solutions of Sharonville is builder of the complex near 2563 State Route 741 and Binion Way, which Masters hopes to move into next year.
“We’ll move our executive side and our sales team to Mason,” Smith said. “We have an inside sales force of about 130. And we have about 10 national account managers who travel throughout the United States to larger customers. We also do trade all throughout Asia – Taiwan, China, Korea.
“I think we’re planning about 225 people moving to Mason, coming from Forest Park and Fairfield,” where the company plans to maintain an existing warehouse, Smith said.
“We’ll be adding new jobs” after moving to the Warren County city, Smith said. “We pledged to add 100 jobs by 2020, but anticipate adding more jobs by then.”
The initial Masters payroll moving to Mason will be $8.2 million, which is expected to increase to $13.3 million by 2020.
Masters plans to sell its current Forest Park headquarters at 11930 Kemper Springs Drive, which encompasses 50,000 square feet.
The company will keep its Fairfield location at 8695 Seward Road, which encompasses 148,000 square feet, primarily for warehousing and distribution, Smith said. “Probably 72 to 100 jobs will stay there,” he told me.
Masters Pharmaceutical is best known for providing prescription drugs to more than 17,000 pharmacies nationwide. However, its customer base has grown as the firm branched out into medical devices and third-party logistics.
“Many manufacturers don’t have space to store product,” Smith said. “We store it and ship all over the United States.
“The company is really sort of a mini conglomerate,” Smith said.
The 360 Pharma Group includes Masters Pharmaceutical, MHC Medical Products, MHC Pharma, RxTPL, and Delta Hi-Tech Inc.
The privately held company could generate about $220 million in revenue this year from all of its operations, Smith said.
The Business Courier recognized Masters Pharmaceutical in 2011 as one of the fastest-growing companies in Greater Cincinnati. Revenue was $122.6 million in 2010, up from $121.38 million the year before and $101.2 million in 2008.
“We just grew it the old-fashioned way – by keeping our profit within the company, reinvesting and hiring more people,” Smith said.
Masters is buying the land from Mason for about $1.4 million. The city agreed to a 15-year tax abatement that could save Masters nearly $1.5 million. City Council appropriated $100,000 to the Mason Port Authority to fund an incentive program for the 360 Pharma Group.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority voted this morning to offer a separate 55 percent, seven-year tax credit to Masters.That could be worth $499,000 to Masters if it maintains operations at the site for at least 10 years and meets targets for job creation and payroll.
Mason expects to benefit from nearly $2 million in new payroll revenue over the next 15 years. The Mason school district would benefit from nearly $3.8 million from payments in lieu of property taxes over that time.
“These thing don’t just happen,” Mayor David Nichols said of Mason landing the Masters complex. “You’re seeing a lot of hard work pay off.”
The Warren County city hopes the move by Masters will ignite interest in the North Mason Technology District, which encompasses about 1,100 acres. The land was bought by the city to spur development and create jobs. The city hopes to attract high-tech, research and development, and medical device makers to the area.
“We looked all over” for a site, Smith said. “We even looked out of state. We were looking in Northern Kentucky. We looked for more than two years. We wanted this campus-like atmosphere.
“We want to deliver a lot of amenities to our employees,” Smith said. “It will have ponds and walking trails and a fitness center and a bistro. They will be able to have lunch and breakfast on site. We may cater it in the beginning, but we eventually want to have a chef.
“We’re really trying to develop a Google-type atmosphere for the employees, where the prefer to stay on campus,” Smith said. “I think once our employees get a taste of Mason, we’ll have a lot of people relocating to Mason.
“We think Mason has built their community to accommodate growth, and they are very heavily technology driven,” Smith said. It’s great to be where Luxottica and Procter & Gamble (have major operations). It’s a great time to be moving into Mason.
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