Boehringer Ingelheim Signs for 10 More Years in Danbury

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals helped save the former Union Carbide Headquarters off Old Ridgebury Road in 2003 when it signed a lease for 230,000-square-feet.

The future of the building was questionable in 2003, said Leroy Diggs, who managed the 1.1-million-square-foot office property for Union Carbide, Dow Chemical and for the Matrix.

"Without that anchor tenant, it was sketchy," Diggs said.

Diggs recalled the building had been designed and built as a corporate headquarters for one company, Union Carbide, and the owner was reluctant to subdivide it after Carbide shrunk and was ultimately purchased by Dow Chemical. Dividing it into separate spaces was costly and time-consuming.

Diggs said today the building has 26 different tenants who employ 2,000 workers.

Boehringer Ingelheim is a private pharmaceutical firm based in Ingelheim, Germany, with operations in 40 countries worldwide. It manufactures and sells Spiriva, an inhaler used to help people with chronic breathing problems. Spiriva earned $4.1 billion in 2010, the company reported. The company also manufactures drugs used to treat AIDS.

Boehringer employs about 900 people in the greater Danbury area, and 44,000 people worldwide.

"We're thrilled to have this blue chip company stay and grow in Danbury," said Stephen Bull, president of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce.