Alcon Laboratories might soon be expanding its footprint in Fort Worth to the tune of $100 million.
Plans recently filed with the city explain that the Switzerland-based company — a world leader in eye care — is in the “early exploratory phase” of an endeavor to erect a new 250,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and 640-car parking lot.
The new build on the 135-acre site along East Altamesa Boulevard would enlarge Alcon’s campus, which is currently located at 6201 South Fwy.
Although the company’s leadership has not signed off on the new manufacturing plant, the recent filing asks for officials with the City of Fort Worth to review the site.
The expansion would increase the city’s tax revenue, with Alcon already contributing the second-highest sum among industrial entities in Tarrant County behind General Motors. It ranks No.7 among both industrial and commercial taxpayers.
Alcon also has plans to direct $153 million to boost its manufacturing, packaging, and compounding operations in Fort Worth through June 2028, as it indicated upon its nomination for the Texas Enterprise Zone (EZ) Program in May.
As reported by The Dallas Express, Fort Worth officials passed the two resolutions naming both Alcon and Bell Textron as nominees for an EZ designation that would grant them significant refunds in state sales and use tax.
Alcon would enjoy a state sales and use tax refund on qualified expenditures of $2,500 per job for a maximum of 500 jobs, for a maximum benefit of $1.25 million over five years. It currently employs approximately 4,500 people in Fort Worth, but how many new positions would be created through the new manufacturing plant is unclear.
The company, first launched by two Fort Worth pharmacists in 1945, announced $2.4 billion in sales during the second quarter of 2023, logging a year-over-year increase of 9%.
“By successfully executing our strategy around the world and across both franchises, we are further strengthening our leadership position in eye care, making us more resilient in a complex global economy and better positioned to seize new opportunities to advance patient care and deliver shareholder value,” Alcon’s CEO David J. Endicott said in a statement.
While Fort Worth has become a major hotspot for all kinds of real estate development, Dallas has seen its share of construction activity decelerate over the years, partly due to the City’s slow and burdensome building permit process under City Manager T.C. Broadnax.
