Taylorsville's Nelson Laboratories adding up to 100 jobs

TAYLORSVILLE — A Utah company is about to celebrate its expansion in an otherwise contracting economy.

On Tuesday, Taylorsville-based Nelson Laboratories Inc. will conduct an open house to announce the creation of 75 to 100 new jobs as the company expands its operations into a new $13 million, 50,000-square-foot building adjacent to its other facility located at 6280 S. Redwood Road.

The company is a contract laboratory with clients in the medical device, pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical, dietary supplement and tissue industries. It opened in 1985 in Research Park near the University of Utah with five employees and 40 tests and now offers more than 400 microbiological and analytical tests.

The company moved to Taylorsville in 1994, when it opened a 62,000-square-foot facility that maintains 80 labs and a 3,000-square-foot clean room. The company serves more than 4,000 clients in 56 countries from that site, which has more than 320 scientists and staff.

"We're helping … to make sure products are safe, sterile and functional," president and chief executive officer Jeff Nelson said.

The new building increases the number of labs and nearly doubles the amount of administrative space for the medical testing company, he added.

"When we started this project, we were growing at … 20 to 25 percent," Nelson told the Deseret News. "We had run out (of space in) our existing building."

He said right about the time when construction was ready to get under way in July 2008, the economy began to slide, prompting some concern about the financial viability of the project. The issues were eventually resolved and the project was completed late last year.

Nelson said the project was aided by a nearly $2 million incentive awarded by the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

GOED board documents indicate the $13 million capital investment by the company will result in jobs paying 25 percent above the Salt Lake County average wage.

"As we add jobs, we could have some tax relief as we do so," he said.

If the health care industry continues to grow, he said, the company could add even more than the projected 75 to 100 jobs.

"If there is growth in health care consumption, that would be something very positive for our company," Nelson said. "I feel confident about the future."

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com