Goodbye, Chicago: Takeda sets December deadline for U.S. employees' Boston move

In the wake of its 64 billion dollars buyout of Shire early last year, Takeda Pharmaceuticals outlined an ambitious consolidation of its operations in the Boston area. For the drugmaker’s 1,000 employees in the Chicago suburbs, that planned move now has a deadline. Takeda will empty its 77,000-square-foot Deerfield, Illinois headquarter facility by Dec. 31 as part of the relocation of its U.S. operations that the Tokyo drugmaker planned after it closed its purchase of Shire in January. Following the move of the 1,000 employees on site, the company is expected to put the Deerfield facility up for sale by March of next year. As part of the move, Takeda will temporarily reassign some of its Deerfield employees to work remotely while others will be assigned to a “transitional work location” in nearby Bannockburn, Illinois, according to Takeda spokesperson Julia Ellwanger. The company said it expects to lay off some of its Deerfield workers, but it didn't disclose job cut numbers. “In cases where there isn’t a solution that meets the business and/or an employee’s needs, the employee will be provided with severance and transition support programs,” Ellwanger said. “Because these discussions are ongoing, we are not providing numbers.”