Epic Medical is coming to Pekin.
In front of a standing-room-only crowd Friday for a news conference in the Pekin City Council meeting room, Mayor Mary Burress and Epic Medical founder and CEO Freddie Lee signed papers that pave the way for the Singapore-based company to build a $25 million medical equipment manufacturing facility in the city's Riverway Business Park.
About 100 jobs will be created and $300,000 in property tax revenue will be generated annually by the facility, which will be built at 305 Hanna Drive, just south of the Pekin Park District's Pekin Sports Complex.
Epic Medical's goal is to have the facility operational by the end of 2026. Components for IV's like stands, tubes and bags will be manufactured there. This will be Epic Medical's first U.S. production facility.
The company does about 40% of its business in the U.S., so it was looking to open a facility in the country and it went on a nationwide search for a site, eventually connecting with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Pekin City Manager John Dossey said Pekin beat out another possible site in Texas for the facility.
Josh Wray, Pekin's economic development director, called the facility the biggest development in Pekin in decades, and one that will help the city keep up with infrastructure needs without burdening taxpayers.
By a rare unanimous vote, Pekin City Council on Monday approved the sale of 66 acres of land to Epic Medical for $500,000, which cleared the final hurdle for the project.
"This is a perfect shot in the arm for what Pekin needs to grow," Burress said during Friday's news conference, not flinching from a medical reference.
Lee also was in the mood for a play on words, even though the news conference started at 2 a.m. in Singapore and he'd only been in Pekin for a day adjusting to the time difference.
"This is an 'epic' moment," he said. "We put this agreement together quickly because we needed a shovel-ready site, but it was easy. We've had a very kind welcome here. We can't wait to be part of this community."
Lee made the trip across the world with his daughter Felicia Lee, director of the Epic Medical board, and Abhay Raut, Epic Medical's commercial director.
"This is a great day not just for Pekin, but for all of Greater Peoria," said Chris Setti, CEO of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council.
"It took an ultimate team effort to get this done," Setti said. "I've never been a part of a project like this where the agreement was signed so quickly. It was only two months ago that we learned the Pekin site was being considered for the Epic Medical project."
Among the other team members who convinced Epic Medical to come to Pekin were Illinois American Water, Ameren Illinois and Comcast.
Burress said Illinois American Water was a particularly important partner in the recruitment because Epic Medical's facility needs a consistent supply of quality water for its operations.
In a news release sent out to media across the state during the news conference, Gov. JB Pritzker and the DCEO announced that Epic Medical will make a $25 million investment in the Pekin facility with incentives from an Economic Development for a Growing Economy agreement with the DCEO.
The state is providing all the incentives for Epic Medical to come to Pekin; the city did not need to offer incentives.
Among those in attendance at the news conference were Pekin City Council members John Abel, Chris Onken and Dave Nutter, Pekin city staff, Tazewell County officials, Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Amy McCoy, State Rep. Travis Weaver, R-Peoria, and State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Aledo.
Freddie Lee was given a Pekin flag signed by city staff and elected officials, Weaver presented him with a proclamation, and Anderson gave him a state of Illinois pin.
Epic Medical is registered as Epic Pharma Solutions in Illinois. It's described in the DECO news release as a leading manufacturer of high-quality FDA-approved medical devices that operates state-of-the-art facilities.
