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Building out the Wilson facility will bring hundreds of jobs to Eastern North Carolina.

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Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has kicked off construction on a $2 billion biologics manufacturing facility in Eastern North Carolina. The 500,000-square-foot facility in Wilson will employ more than 500 people once it is fully operational.

Johnson & Johnson, based in New Jersey, is preparing the Wilson site to begin steel work for the facility. Construction will be complete in 2028, after which the company will begin qualifying equipment and validating the manufacturing processes at the site to begin producing medicines.

The plant will be under the company's Janssen Biotech subsidiary.

Including construction and operations of the facility, the project is expected to create more than 5,000 jobs. Once the facility is operational, Johnson & Johnson will have more than 500 employees and contractors at the site, with more than 80 employees already hired.

The company told the state that jobs at the plant will pay a minimum average wage of just shy of $109,000.

The company is investing in this facility to support its pipeline of innovative medicines, said Dapo Ajayi, vice president of supply chain at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. This includes medicines targeting cancer, immune-mediated diseases and neurological conditions.

"This facility is about expanding our capacity to be able to support this really exciting portfolio of products that are coming through from Johnson & Johnson," Ajayi said.

Building out the Wilson facility is part of the company's plans to invest more than $55 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.

In addition to its North Carolina investment, Johnson & Johnson plans to build three other manufacturing facilities and expand several existing sites across the company's Innovative Medicine and Medtech businesses. The company is also investing in its research and development infrastructure, with a focus on areas like oncology, neuroscience, immunology, cardiovascular disease and robotic surgery.

"What's driving this investment is the growth in terms of our portfolio and the just the number of transformational medicines that we got coming through our pipeline," Ajayi said.

The company unveiled its plans in Wilson in October, securing potential local and state incentives. In December, the company purchased more than 176 acres in the Wilson Corporate Park for the facility. The land sits off Corporate Parkway West, Merck Road West and International Boulevard.

To further develop a local workforce, Johnson & Johnson is collaborating with the Smithsonian Science Education Center and Wilson County Schools to bring more STEM programming to local schools.

Additionally, the company is working with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and Wilson Community College to bring the BioWork certificate program to Wilson County high schools. This is a program at North Carolina community colleges that prepares students for entry-level positions in manufacturing in the biopharmaceutical industry.

"North Carolina is renowned in terms of the skilled workforce that it has, but also the investment that North Carolina has made in terms of infrastructure and workforce development means that it deserves this type of investment," Ajayi said.

One of the best sculpture parks in the country features dozens of whimsical metal structures created by a man who never called himself an artist.

The late Vollis Simpson, who grew up and lived in the small Wilson County town Lucama, made a career out of repairing machines and moving houses.

He didn’t start building the objects now known as “whirligigs” until he retired.

The whirligigs — metal sculptures with elements that move in the wind — were first assembled in Simpson’s property in Lucama but have since been repaired, restored and transported to nearby Wilson.

The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, named one of the best sculpture parks in the country in a recent USA Today 10Best competition, has been open to the public since 2017.

Sculpture parks were nominated by a panel of experts and narrowed down by 10Best editors. USA Today readers then voted on their favorite parks.

Here’s the ranking:

Located at 301 Goldsboro St. in Wilson, the park features 30 whirligigs made of recycled industrial parts. Some of them stand more than 50 feet tall, according to the park’s website.

Work on the the 2-acre park in what was once the “World’s Greatest Tobacco Market” began in 2010, The News & Observer previously reported. At the time, the whirligigs were falling into disrepair as Simpson could no longer maintain them.

In addition to the whirligigs, the park includes a covered stage and lawn area, plus a park shelter that hosts the Wilson Farmers & Artisan Market and other events. The museum and gift shop, located at 230 Goldsboro St., opened in 2022.

It’s free to visit the park and requires no tickets, the park’s website says. Nearby parking is free.

The park is open daily from 5 a.m. to midnight, including on holidays. The park is about a one-hour drive from Raleigh, four hours from Asheville and two hours from the coastline.

Several other institutions in the state have recently been featured prominently on USA Today 10Best lists:

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February 24, 2025 10:45 AM

This story was originally published March 7, 2025 at 2:05 PM.