U of M Announces Deal for Ann Arbor Pfizer Site

Pfizer site in Northeast Ann Arbor to be purchased by University of Michigan for Bio-Tech initiative -

"The University of Michigan announced Thursday it will purchase Pfizer Inc.'s former campus in Ann Arbor for $108 million, an investment it says will create 2,000 jobs over the next decade.

The nearly 174-acre campus has almost 2 million square feet of laboratory and office space that the university says will allow it expand its research in health, biomedical sciences and other fields, including hiring 2,000 researchers and other staff." Read the rest

Pfizer which announced the closing of it Ann Arbor facility in January of 2007, was Ann Arbor's largest private employer with 2100 people employed.

The closing of Pfizer was a major blow to the region and the state and caused an already sluggish housing market in Ann Arbor to go into a strong downturn.

The University of Michigan and the UMHS have helped bouy up the Ann Arbor real estate market during Michigan's recession through the generation of jobs and the influx of students. The addition of the thousands of direct and indirect jobs will help keep Ann Arbor one of the strongest local economies in the State.

North east Ann Arbor condominium developments such as Barclay Way, Chapel Hill and Geddes Lake should see strong buy side activity and upward pressure on prices once hiring begins.