Cookeville Aphena Expansion On Pace To Open March 2021

Renovations for Cookeville’s new Aphena Pharma Solutions expansion is on track for an opening date of March 2021.

Two of the three Cookeville offices will be consolidated into the 500,000 square foot building on Chocolate Drive. Executive Vice President Eric Allen said renovations right now are being focused on office spaces.

“Russel Stover did not really have much office space,” Allen said. “Because we are a pharmaceutical based company, we do have to have a lot of space requirements for engineers, quality control, project managers, executive leadership, etc. So, we are completely building out a high end pharmaceutical looking office space.”

Allen said the outside of the building should start taking shape in the next two months with a new parking lot and employee entrance. Allen said the extra space allows Aphena to add distribution and refrigerated pharmaceuticals to its services.

“We will be adding distribution services, which we call 3PL services later in 2021,” Allen said. “We have a massive cold chain capability of storage services there as well as packaging. Because of the old candy factory, that is what really attracted us cause they have the ability to manage things at both refrigerator or freezer space.”

Allen said a lot of the new drugs coming out in the next 15 years are inflatables, which most be packaged in cold environments. One hundred and sixty jobs will come from the $21 million expansion over the next five years.

“It is not only going to give growth for our local community in Putnam County, but it is going to bring a lot more technical service people to this area,” Allen said. “It will help the university. It will give opportunities for internships and engineering talent that way we continue to grow. It is going to be very beneficial.”

Aphena Pharma Solutions is a leading pharma service provider specializing in contract packaging and manufacturing for the pharmaceutical, over-the-counter and medical device industries. Headquartered in Cookeville since 2002, Aphena employs more than 400 people.