North Village Town Center, MidCity expansion, drone plant also made headlines.
That accomplishment would seem hard to top in a year where good economic news kept coming in the Rocket City. That was until Eli Lilly announced it was investing $6 billion into a new pharmaceutical facility in the Limestone County portion of the city.
It is the largest private investment in Alabama history, according to Gov. Kay Ivey.But it was not the only announcement of a major pharmaceutical company making itself at home in Huntsville. Eye care company Glaukos announced it would build an $82 million facility at Cummings Research Park that could turn out to be more than a $100 million investment. And MidCity announced a $300 million expansion. The city of Huntsville also announced plans for the $240 million North Village Town Center at the intersection of North Memorial Parkway-Northern Bypass. “This just means we were able to widen the aperture of what we have to offer for jobs,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said following Eli Lilly’s announcement. “We can go from biotech now, we can go to space, we can go to technology. We can go to the military side with missiles. When we look at all of the job market that is sitting out there, we’ve just widened the offering of what we can provide for the world.” “2025 has certainly delivered substantial opportunities for our community across multiple sectors,” City Urban and Economic Development Director Shane Davis told AL.com. “Huntsville has pushed to continue progress on new road projects and focused on continued housing starts to manage affordability. These two factors have contributed to the great success in 2025.”that it was building a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Greenbrier was music to the ears of city officials and business leaders in attendance for the celebration at the Von Braun Center’s Mars Music Hall. The next-generation synthetic medicine active pharmaceutical ingredient facility will produce small molecule synthetic and peptide medicines. It is the third of four new U.S. sites Lilly plans to announce. The site will be among those that will manufacture orforglipron, Lilly’s first oral, small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, which the company expects to submit to global regulatory agencies for obesity by the end of this year. Eli Lilly Chair and CEO David Ricks discusses plans for a $6 billion pharmaceutical facility in Huntsville during a panel discussion at the Von Braun Center.David A. Ricks, Lilly chair and CEO, said the facility would produce medications “for illnesses of all kinds.” Lilly will bring 450 jobs to the area, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians, the company said. Work on the facility is expected to begin in 2026 and will generate 3,000 construction jobs. Completion of the state-of-the-art facility is expected in 2032. Spinoff jobs could be in the thousands. Ricks said the economic impact could reach $25 billion. He said the facility will be the most advanced his company has ever built. The site was selected from a pool of 300 applications.U.S. Space Command Commanding Gen. Stephen Whiting discusses the headquarters move to Huntsville during the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber update at the Von Braun Center.“It’s like looking for Christmas for a long time. We’re very happy that Christmas finally came.”by Colorado’s attorney general seeking to stop the headquarters from moving from its temporary home in Colorado Springs, but the combatant command has already been taking steps in the move to Alabama. U.S. Space Command Commanding General Stephen Whiting said the transition had been expedited and disciplined during the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber update in early December. He said the transition office was already up and running.Martin Traylor, deputy to the garrison commander, said Space Command could be up and running in three years on the arsenal. He said the arsenal would be using a two-phase construction approach, saying a temporary site will be built in a period of 18 to 24 months inside a secured area on the installation to handle Space Command in its entirety. Traylor said a permanent facility will take five to seven years to build.would be coming to north Alabama with the decision to move the headquarters here. Whiting and Battle said the move will lead to 1,400 direct jobs. U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Monrovia. has been consistent inThe Huntsville City Council approved land sales to the developers of Home Depot and Target for a shopping center in north Huntsville.that will include a Home Depot and a Target superstore at the intersection of North Memorial Parkway and the Northern Bypass. The shopping center will be more than 500,000 square feet and will be called North Village Center. It is near the Food City that opened in July. The city is also in the process of helping Huntsville Hospital secure 72 acres near the site for a much-needed $50 million medical facility for the area.The retail development will include multiple national retail anchors and will include space for local and regional merchants. It will also include multiple national and regional restaurants on the campus., one of the Southeast’s largest mixed-use developments. The subdistrict spans three city blocks along Sanderson Road—from Makers Way on the east to Apollo Park and the It is designed to integrate arts, music, innovation, and hospitality within a walkable cultural corridor, the company said, and is considered a critical step in completing the MidCity master plan. RCP said the phase will help unlock the full economic potential of the district’s southern gateway anchored by The Orion.approximately 60,000 square feet of new retail and entertainment space. MidCity Live, a 3,000-capacity indoor music venue designed by Matheny Goldmon Architects in collaboration with Urban Design Associates, is a key element of the original MidCity master plan and addresses a long-standing gap in Huntsville’s live music ecosystem, RCP said.Glaukos Corporation CEO Tom Burns speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony of the company's 200,000-square-foot facility in Huntsville. Listening are Alabama congressmen Robert Aderholt and Dale Strong, and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.The company plans to initially employ more than 150 at the site, CEO Tom Burns told AL.com.Burns said the company’s investment in the facility could reach $100 million. The facility will be built on 25 acres at the corner of Mark Smith Drive and Explorer Boulevard, at the north end of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. The agreement with the city includes an option for 15 additional acres for future expansion. Glaukos is a leader in ophthalmology focused on developing and commercializing novel therapies for the treatment of glaucoma, corneal disorders, and retinal diseases. Burns said the facility is going to be able to house all of the company’s prosthetic device marketing with titanium tiny stents and other products.on Diamond Drive. The company – known as PDW – began manufacturing drones at the facility on July 1. It is expected to produce 60,000 drones a year, according to PDW CEO and co-founder Ryan Gury. The company is in the process of hiring more than 500 people to work at the facility – known as Drone Factory 1 – with a starting salary of more than $100,000 per year according to its The company is expecting to have an $81 million impact a year in north Alabama. The company started with 12 employees at the Stovehouse entertainment venue on Governors Drive, first producing drones for a racing league.Not all the stories were good news in the Huntsville area. The longest government shutdown in U.S. history meant thousands of north Alabama federal government employees went on unpaid furloughs or worked without a paycheck for much of October and into November. That included a large percentage of 45,000 employees on Redstone Arsenal and government employees at Huntsville International Airport. Hundreds of residents also saw their SNAP benefits paused. Despite the impact of the shutdown on air travel, Huntsville International Airport is racing toward a third-straight year of record air travel. About 1.5 million air travelers passed through Huntsville by the end of November. The airport was expecting December’s numbers to surpass 2024’s 1.6 million record mark with airlines offering more seats and non-stop flights. The first businesses opened at the $145 million Stadium Commons near Joe Davis Stadium off Memorial Parkway. Hattie Bs Hot Chicken was the first business to open. Free People and Free People Movement stores will be part of the first wave of tenants. The stores will join Ferren Boutique, VSL Nails and what the developer described as a “two-story, high-end restaurant from Power Brands.” Food City completed four of six stores throughout the city. Food City developers are now considering bringing more stores to the city in addition to the six that are either open or under construction. The additional Food City locations could be located in south Huntsville or the western part of the city, Davis said. The $40 million Mariott Autograph Collection Trilogy hotel across from the Von Braun Center opened. The hotel is at the southwest corner of the reconstructed parking garage on Monroe Street across from the Von Braun Center’s Propst Arena. The hotel has eight floors and more than 200 rooms. It has a rooftop bar and one of the largest Starbucks in the state. Lockheed Martin, Blue Origin and L3Harris were among aerospace and missile defense companies completing expansions during the year. They and others expect to benefit from Space Command’s relocation here, as well as work in the development of Trump’s Golden Dome for America defense initiative.Scott Turner covers growth, economic development in the Huntsville area for AL.com and the Huntsville Times. A veteran journalist, his career includes coverage of politics, environmental, military, veteran,...
@River-State End Of The Year Eli Lilly U.S. Space Comand Glaukos North Village Town Center Stadium Commons Performance Drone Works PDW @River-Birmingham @Yahoo Section:/News/Huntsville
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said After Loss to Virginia in Gator BowlA full transcript from the head coach's press conference is Jacksonville.
Read more »
Our favorite Space.com stories of 2025Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists.
Read more »
Comeback Town: Huntsville didn’t need UAB to win Eli Lilly — and that should terrify BirminghamWith UAB and Southern Research, many have assumed that Birmingham is the state’s life sciences giant, but that thinking may be living in the past, along with thinking that Birmingham is the state’s largest city.
Read more »
'Southern Hospitality' star Grace Lilly arrested after cops found 'happy pills' in her car‘Big Brother’ star Mickey Lee dead at 35 after suffering multiple cardiac arrests. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have post-NFL life planned as he eyes new career. Jennifer Aniston shares glimpse into Christmas festivities with boyfriend Jim Curtis.
Read more »
Southern Hospitality Star Grace Lilly Is Arrested for Second-Degree Harassment'Southern Hospitality star Grace Lilly has been arrested for harassment after filming season 3 of the hit Bravo series
Read more »
'Southern Hospitality' Star Grace Lilly Arrested With 'Happy Pills' in Purse, Cops Say'Southern Hospitality' star Grace Lilly was arrested Monday ... after cops pulled her over and say they found a bottle of 'happy pills' in her purse late Sunday night.
Read more »