Missouri Governor Matt Blunt announced Thursday that Express Scripts will build its new corporate headquarters on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). NorthPark Partners ESI, made up of affiliates of Clayco Realty and McEagle Properties, will develop the $34 million project.

Express Scripts, a Fortune 500 company with $15.1 billion in annual revenue in 2004, will move its headquarters from Maryland Heights to UMSL's business park between the main campus and Interstate 70. More than 1,100 corporate positions will relocate to the facility in March 2007. As many as 480 additional jobs are expected to be added within the next five years, the company said. The general contractor on the project is Clayco Paric JV.

As part of his announcement at UMSL, Blunt said the state's financial package to keep the company in Missouri includes $1 million annually in tax credits for five years and new jobs incentives totaling an estimated $7.5 million for five years. He said the company is the first to use provisions under the Missouri Quality Jobs Act.

The company is one of the largest pharmacy-benefit management (PBM) companies in North America and provides services to more than 50 million patients.

The pharmacy benefits management company, currently based in Maryland Heights, spent 2005 examining several sites in the St. Louis metropolitan region and Illinois to house more than 1,200 St. Louis employees.

During its headquarters hunt, Express Scripts sought 200,000 square feet of space, with room to expand to 60,000 square feet in two years, if necessary. Expansion seems likely, considering the company's 2004 revenues were up 14 percent over 2003. What's driving the growth is its mail order pharmacy prescriptions, which increased 21 percent in 2004 over a year prior.

At least two sites in downtown St. Louis were presented to Express Scripts, including three vacant buildings in Cupples Station recently put under contract by McGowan\Walsh Historic Renovators, and the old Dillard's store.

Sites on Express Script's short list of candidates were NorthPark near Lambert International Airport and a site in St. Charles.

The site adjacent to UMSL, named the Business Technology Research Park, runs from Hanley Road to Bermuda Road along I-70. No tenants currently occupy the site, which covers about 120 acres. "It's still in the development phase," said Bob Samples, a spokesman for UMSL.

Samples said the school has been buying up properties along Interstate 70 near the school for several years. He could not provide an estimate on how much the university has spent on property acquisition for the proposed business park. "The concept has been in play for years. We have been acquiring properties over the years and one of the ideas was to develop a business park with what was Bi-State, and is now known as Metro."

The university will partner with Express Scripts to collaborate on joint initiatives, such as health-economics research and information technology.

UMSL Chancellor Thomas George said Express Scripts is the type of company the school had in mind when it began developing the business park. "It's a growing company whose operational needs meld with UMSL's academic strengths and diverse connections to the region," George said in a statement.