Sandoval praises company starting to build at tech park
Gov. Brian Sandoval hailed Catamaran LLC as “exactly the kind of company we’re trying to attract to Nevada” at a Friday event on a picture-perfect day at the Harry Reid Research and Technology Park in the southwest valley.
About 75 people gathered at the site at Sunset Road near Durango Drive, just off the Las Vegas Beltway, for the ceremonial start of a pharmaceutical fulfillment facility that will provide 353 jobs and an employment pipeline to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
It will be the first project to be built at the Reid tech park and representatives of Catamaran, a public company expecting $20 billion in sales next year, vow they’ll help recruit more companies in the health services industry to Southern Nevada.
Catamaran operates as a benefits manager for specialty pharmacy Briova Rx.
“It’s an amazing, amazing company,” Sandoval said of Catamaran at the event. “Its presence will produce a ripple effect through our economy, arriving here at the right place at the right time.”
Catamaran is investing $42 million to expand in Southern Nevada, including $23.3 million going into construction of the two-story, 110,000-square-foot office, warehouse and distribution center that is expected to be completed by summer.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Catamaran has a 10-year plan to build out to provide 474 jobs. It currently offers average pay of $23.10 an hour with a mix of pharmacists, technicians and customer service representatives. In addition to the permanent jobs, an estimated 200 construction jobs are planned.
Catamaran and its subsidiaries provide an estimated one in five medical prescriptions, managing 350 million prescriptions for 32 million customers. Catamaran’s local contract customers include Clark County Self-funded and Social Services, Culinary Health Fund, MGM International Resorts, Cirque de Soleil, as well as the following groups for the State of Nevada: Medicaid, Aids Drug Assistance, Health Co-Op, Mental Health and Development Services, Senior-Disability Rx Program and Public Employees Benefit Program.
Joel Saban, vice president for pharmacy operations for Catamaran, said development of a West Coast operation “marks a new chapter in our story.” He said the company has been listed by Fortune magazine as one of the nation’s fastest growing over the past five years.
Prior to the ceremony, Sandoval met with Irwin Molasky, chairman of the Molasky Group of Cos., his family and representatives of the company.
Molasky is a pioneer real estate developer in Southern Nevada, building the first enclosed shopping mall (Boulevard Mall), private hospital (Sunrise Hospital Surgical Center & Medical Center) and was a founder of the UNLV Foundation, which holds the 122-acre master-planned technology and research park.
“I’m a builder,” Molasky said before the event. “I’m dedicated to creating something of value to the community and in helping UNLV.”
Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta
