PEKIN, Ill. – The sale of land in Pekin’s Riverway Business Park to a Singapore-based medical manufacturer was made official on Friday.
Mayor Mary Burress and Epic Medical CEO Freddie Lee signed a document to close a $500,000 sale of 66 acres. Epic will use the land to the south of the Pekin Sports Complex to build a new facility to manufacture component parts for IVs.
Lee says Pekin’s people and resources made it an appealing location for its first United States-based facility.
“There’s a good quality of water here, and, of course, the land is ready, and what we need to bring in is only our know-how to make this production quite unique in a way, because it allows a seamless transition from the pharmacy to the wards,” Lee said.
The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2026, and be built in 2-3 phases over the next couple years. While no city incentives were provided to bring Epic to Pekin, the state of Illinois announced a $25 million investment from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
The facility is expected to bring more than 100 jobs to Pekin. Burress says that will have ripple effects throughout the city and the region, something that she says the community has needed.
“It is going to bring families here, more kids going to our schools, more revenue coming to our town, making it grow the right way,” Burress said.
The deal to bring Epic to Pekin was done in a very quick manner, with a timeframe of around two months from the first conversations to the signing of the land deal on Friday. Economic Development Director Josh Wray says the city’s willingness to welcome them more than other cities, as well as having shovel-ready ground, helped Pekin win the facility.
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