CVS Caremark's new Mount Prospect site to employ 400

CVS Caremark Tuesday unveiled its completed $67 million mail service pharmacy and customer center in Mount Prospect, adding 180 new employees while moving in 220 from another Mount Prospect facility.

The new center will house about 400 workers by the end of this year with the capacity for 500. CVS already has more than 8,000 workers in Illinois, including about 2,000 in the suburbs with the likelihood of expanding even further here, said CVS Caremark President and CEO Larry J. Merlo.

"There's always a possibility of moving more operations here," Merlo said. "We're always evaluating our needs."

Woonsocket, R.I.,-based CVS Caremark recently moved out its workforce from another Mount Prospect office into the larger 150,000-square-foot facility on Wall Street near Algonquin Road. CVS also has offices in Northbrook, as well as eight support centers and about 275 retail stores in Illinois.

Merlo was joined by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Mount Prospect Mayor Arlene A. Juracek and several other CVS executives and state and local officials for a ribbon cutting.

They toured the facility, which will serve 60 million members nationwide and fill roughly 50 million prescriptions annually.

Juracek was happy to see the building come to fruition and keep jobs in town.

"This is great validation for doing business in Mount Prospect," she said.

The Mount Prospect building was obtained more than 18 months ago and CVS spent about $67 million on the build out without incentives from state and local government, Merlo said.

Quinn said Mount Prospect offers CVS a good location near O'Hare International Airport for customers and vendors to visit and for CVS to use for shipping.

"It's a positive place," Quinn said. "And it's a 21st century building with everything they will need to show the world what 21st century medicine is all about."