ChromaDex set to open R&D plant in Longmont

LONGMONT — Irvine, Calif.-based bioscience firm ChromaDex Corp. will officially open a research and development plant in Longmont on Jan. 5 with a closed ceremony for city dignitaries.

ChromaDex has spent close to $1 million to renovate and install equipment in the 10,000 square feet it is leasing at 1751 S. Fordham St., Suite 350, in the Diagonal Tech Center.

ChromaDex, co-founded by chemist Frank Jaksch Jr., develops ingredients for the dietary supplement, food, beverage, skin-care and pharmaceutical markets.

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“This facility will enable further in-house ingredient process development including the generation and protection of valuable IP, and it allows us to expand our analytical-service offerings,” Jaksch said.

ChromaDex will employ seven workers initially at the R&D site in Longmont, who had been working at the company’s analytics and testing lab in Boulder, at 2830 Wilderness Place, where it now has 30 workers.

“Moving the R&D workers from Boulder to Longmont gives us more room to grow our analytics department,” said Derik Ward, ChromaDex’s director of engineering and project management.

“We hope to double that number in Longmont in three to five years,” he said. ChromaDex received an incentive package from the city of Longmont tied to that job growth.

“Our business is growing and needed more room for R&D, so we looked within a 20-mile radius of Boulder because Boulder lease rates tend to be higher,” Ward said.”

He said ChromaDex chose Longmont for several reasons: incentives offered by the city of Longmont, reasonable utility rates and an accommodating landlord, Goff Capital Partners.

The city of Longmont, through the Longmont Economic Development Partnership, awarded ChromaDex an incentive package up to $16,000 worth of rebates for various city permit fees and sales tax tied to job creation. ChromaDex agreed that if it fails to relocate or hire at least 10 new full-time employees within 36 months of the agreement that was made in May, at an average annual wage of at least 105 percent of the Boulder County annual average, or $60,710, it will refund the rebate amount to the city in an amount equal to the percentage of jobs created below the committed 10 jobs.

The average salary of the new employees is estimated to be $70,000.

The publicly traded company (Nasdaq: CDXC), which has about 80 employees, works with universities and research institutions to discover and license early stage, IP-backed ingredient technologies. It then uses its in-house chemistry, regulatory and safety departments to develop ingredients. It also operates a regulatory-consulting service with a five-person staff in Maryland.