Adesis to remain in Delaware, buys headquarters for $3M

Adesis, a New Castle contract research organization, will remain in Delaware after purchasing the headquarters it has rented for the past two decades. 

The company paid $3 million for the property at 27 McCullough Drive, according to property records. Andrew Cottone, president of Adesis, said the purchase was necessary to accommodate its growth. Adesis' workforce had nearly doubled to 64 employees from 34 just five years ago and was 45 as recently as 2015. 

Since launching in 1991, Adesis has become a leading developer and manufacturer of specialized chemical compounds used by drugmakers and others to discover the next big product.

Over the past decade, five biotech companies have won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency with products that were created through the compounds supplied by Adesis. 

Adesis was acquired in 2016 by Universal Display Corp. for $36 million. Universal Display Corp. is an Ewing, New Jersey, contract research organization. The acquisition was key to Adesis' expansion, Cottone said. 

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"They have empowered us to grow our business by adding business development staff and expanding our customer base both in North American and Europe," he said. "Our customer base has doubled since 2013." 

Adesis' growth necessitated more space. The company considered relocating to Pennsylvania or New Jersey or remaining in Delaware, but moving to a new building, Cottone said. Ultimately, the company decided to stay put. 

Multiple factors influenced the decision to stay at the McCullough Drive property, according to Cottone. Those factors included Adesis' investment in the building's laboratory space and infrastructure; Delaware's central location to its customers in New Jersey and North Carolina and the number of employees who live near the property. 

Adesis will occupy more space in the building. It had about 25,000 square feet, but will now expand to 47,500 square feet. The new space will support research and sales staff, Cottone said. 

"The new space will enable us to grow as long as it is supported by the business," Cottone said. 

With the acquisition of its headquarters, Adesis will become a landlord for the first time in the company's history. About three other businesses are also in the McCullough Drive building, including Mattei Realty, which sold the property Adesis. Mattei purchased the property in 1987 for about $1.8 million, according to New Castle County property records. 

Adesis will work with the building's tenants to extend leases on a short-term basis until they can find new locations, Cottone said. Mattei will be moving out soon. 

"We want to be good neighbors so we are working with tenants to allow them to continue their business in Delaware and expand in Delaware," Cottone said. 

The next area of Adesis' expansion is specialty manufacturing, a form of creating chemicals that have a wide variety of uses across multiple industries. Cottone said Adesis is going to manufacture smaller specialty chemicals that some of the larger companies would ignore.

"Our range is between 50 and 2,000 kilos," Cottone said. "That is too small for most companies, but we have some strategies on how we will enter that market." 

Cottone said its headquarter's expansion is key to growing in the specialty manufacturing market.

"It will definitely fit into our current space," he said. 

Contact Jeff Mordock at (302) 324-2786, on Twitter @JeffMordockTNJ or jmordock@delawareonline.com.