Crews have started work on adding a large facility to the campus of pharmaceutical company Quality Chemical Laboratories, a building that will also lead to more jobs for the Wilmington area.

The firm, at 3220 Corporate Drive in the Northchase Industrial Park, is adding a niche manufacturing facility adjacent to its existing facility in the Northchase Industrial Park off Interstate 40 and expanding its analytical lab space.

"The facility will be two stories with a total of 87,500 occupied SF and 110,700 gross SF with an equipment mezzanine over the Aseptic manufacturing core, constructed on QCL's existing 7-acre site and attached by a connecting corridor to existing facilities," said Brian Dineen, facilities engineering manager for the company, in a statement. "QCL intends to manufacture drug products to meet industry demand, which in turn will result in creating more jobs in Wilmington area.

"The manufacturing facility will have capability to manufacture as a contract manufacturing unit as well as produce our own products."

Yousry Sayed, president and CEO of QCL, said in a Greater Wilmington Business Journal story in February that plans are to bring into the addition the firm's sister company, Pyramid Pharmaceutical Co. LLC.

McKinley Building Corp. is the general contractor for the building, which could be finished by February 2022. The labs would be created once the building is finished.

"This is a design-build project with Cothran Harris Architecture and with a lot of input form the Quality Chemical team," said Andrew Cooke, business development officer for McKinley Building.

Ken Dull, owner of McKinley Building, said, "We're really excited to be working with a key employer and part of this community. We've always had a lot of respect for Dr. Sayed and his team and enjoyed getting to know them through this process."