Area Development
CSL Behring, an Australian-based global biotherapeutics firm, plans to expand its operations center in Kankakee, Illinois. The company will begin with a reported 1.8 million-square-foot addition to its campus called CSL South.

According to Tricia Stewart, Sr. Vice President & General Manager of the Kankakee site, "The future is even brighter. We are really setting ourselves up for the future. We plan on bringing more and more of our products here to Kankakee.”

CSL Behring recently purchased the 74-acre former Bunge Edible Oil plant property in Bourbonnais Township next to its campus.

“The company has big plans for the former Bunge site although nothing has been made public,” she said on the company’s website.

"This is an exciting time in the growth of CSL Behring," said Stewart. "With this purchase, the Kankakee manufacturing site is poised for future expansion, enabling us to deliver on our promise of providing life-saving biotherapies to our patients."

According to company officials, the entire expansion on the recently acquired neighboring 74 acres could take as long as 12 years to complete.

“This is a huge corporation investing considerable money in our area. This shows that Kankakee County is a great place to be," said Tim Nugent, Executive Director of the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County.

The company is completing construction on its CSL South, a $240 million, 300,000-square-foot , 7-story tower building. CSL South’s campus will begin at the base of the seven-story manufacturing tower, which will then spread out to include manufacturing and processing buildings constructed during the next decade.

CSL South will enable the company to expand production of medications that include albumin, used to treat patients with blood loss and burns as well as producing other products.

“We are building buildings to satisfy the needs of the patients who rely on these medications,” Stewart said. “This is about patient needs and demand for our product. These are life-saving medications that go around the world.”