Update: Lilly Breaks Ground on $5B Richmond-Area Drug Plant

Eli Lilly and Company broke ground on Thursday, October 22, on a $5 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Goochland County, Virginia, just west of Richmond. The site will be Lilly's first to make both active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished medicines in one integrated facility, and the company expects the project to create about 1,800 construction jobs. Lilly is aiming to begin making medicine there in 2030.

What Happened

Lilly held a ceremonial groundbreaking with Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Goochland County officials, according to the company's press release. The plant will focus on antibody-drug conjugates, a class of targeted cancer treatments, and will include dedicated capacity for bioconjugate and large-molecule ingredients (Eli Lilly and Company). Lilly chair and CEO Dave Ricks told the crowd, "Today, this plan becomes a place" (Richmond BizSense).

This is an update on a previously announced project. Earlier WCG coverage tracked the broader wave of U.S. drug plant investment, including Lilly's $6.5 billion Houston site, in Pharma Campus Wave: Five U.S. Drug Plant Projects Total $13.15 Billion. The Richmond groundbreaking moves the Virginia site from announcement to active work.

Site and Building Details

• Location: 12575 West Creek Parkway in the West Creek Business Park, Goochland County (Richmond BizSense).
• Land: 227 acres. Richmond BizSense reported Lilly bought the land in July for $38.39 million from Henrico-based insurer Markel (Richmond BizSense), while Virginia Business reported a purchase price of $38.3 million in August (Virginia Business). The two outlets differ on the month and the exact figure.
• Building size: About 1 million square feet at full build-out, including a 600,000-square-foot first phase and a later 340,000-square-foot expansion, according to Richmond BizSense. Virginia Business reported that Lilly does not disclose facility square footage for safety reasons and that the buildings will be multistory (Virginia Business).
• Investment: $5 billion (Eli Lilly and Company). Virginia Business noted the figure is up from an earlier plan of $2.148 billion (Virginia Business).
• Jobs: About 650 permanent positions and roughly 1,800 construction jobs (Eli Lilly and Company).
• Sustainability: Lilly is targeting LEED Gold certification (Eli Lilly and Company).
• Power: Dominion Energy received approval for a $98 million, 6.5-mile transmission line and substation to serve the site (Richmond BizSense).

Lilly did not name a general contractor, construction manager or design firm in its release, and neither local outlet identified one (Eli Lilly and Company) (Richmond BizSense) (Virginia Business). Virginia Business reported that Lilly has made 15 to 30 local hires so far for construction management roles, with more than 20 offers outstanding (Virginia Business).

Timeline

According to Virginia Business, Lilly expects the monoclonal antibody facility to open in 2030 and the drug product facility in 2031 (Virginia Business). Edgardo Hernandez, Lilly's executive vice president and president of manufacturing operations, said facilities like this usually take about five years from groundbreaking, but "our goal is actually to make medicine in 2030" (Virginia Business). A separate pilot-scale training center in Goochland County, part of the Virginia Center for Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, is targeted to open in 2028 (Eli Lilly and Company). Lilly has committed $40 million to that center (Eli Lilly and Company), and Virginia Business reported that AstraZeneca and Merck have each made the same $40 million commitment (Virginia Business).

Where It Fits

Lilly says Richmond is one of 10 new U.S. manufacturing sites it has launched since 2020, including ingredient plants in Huntsville, Alabama, Houston and Lebanon, Indiana, and injectables and device plants in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania (Eli Lilly and Company). Ricks said the site is part of Lilly's $50 billion commitment to expand U.S. manufacturing (Richmond BizSense). Richmond BizSense reported Lilly is the first company to break ground in Goochland's technology overlay district (Richmond BizSense).

The project joins other large pharmaceutical campuses moving forward this fall, such as Merck's $2.9 billion Montgomery County expansion and Bayer's $2.2 billion Ohio campus.

Implications for Owners, Developers, Contractors and Subs

• Labor demand: About 1,800 construction jobs (Eli Lilly and Company) in a mid-sized metro will pull from regional electrical, mechanical, process piping and concrete crews. Contractors in the Mid-Atlantic should expect tighter availability of specialty trades through the end of the decade.
• Process-heavy scope: Integrated API and finished drug production (Eli Lilly and Company) means cleanrooms, high-purity utilities and validated systems. That favors subs with GMP experience and strong commissioning and documentation practices.
• Utility work first: The approved $98 million transmission line and substation (Richmond BizSense) shows how much enabling infrastructure these campuses require before vertical work peaks.
• Fast-track pressure: Lilly's stated goal of producing medicine in 2030, faster than the typical five-year path (Virginia Business), points to an aggressive schedule with overlapping design and construction.

What to Watch

• Announcement of the construction manager and major trade packages.
• Progress on Dominion's transmission line and substation serving the site.
• Opening of the Goochland training center targeted for 2028 (Eli Lilly and Company).

Bottom Line

Lilly's Richmond campus is now under construction, with a $5 billion budget, about 1,800 construction jobs and a 2030 production target. It adds to a national pipeline of drug plants that depends on specialized mechanical, electrical and process contractors.

Related Coverage

• Pharma Campus Wave: Five U.S. Drug Plant Projects Total $13.15 Billion
• Merck Commits $2.9 Billion to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Expansion
• Bayer Plans $2.2 Billion Ohio Pharma Campus With Mid-2027 Construction Start
• GSK Plans $800M Upper Merion Biologics Campus, Construction in 2027

Image credit: Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly Richmond, Goochland County), via PR Newswire. Image from the source article.

Sources

• Eli Lilly and Company, via BioSpace/PR Newswire, "Lilly breaks ground in Richmond to expand American manufacturing of next-generation cancer medicines, advancing its build-out of 10 new U.S. sites since 2020": https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/lilly-breaks-ground-in-richmond-to-expand-american-manufacturing-of-next-generation-cancer-medicines-advancing-its-build-out-of-10-new-u-s-sites-since-2020
• Richmond BizSense, "Eli Lilly breaks ground on $5B West Creek pharma facility": https://richmondbizsense.com/2026/10/23/eli-lilly-breaks-ground-on-5b-west-creek-pharma-facility/
• Virginia Business, "Eli Lilly breaks ground on $5B Virginia manufacturing site": https://virginiabusiness.com/eli-lilly-5b-virginia-manufacturing-site-groundbreaking/