CVS Caremark wins honor for Mt. Prospect project

The new CVS Caremark Customer Center in Mount Prospect was one of six projects to be honored statewide with an Eddie Award for its impact on economic development.

The winners of the ComEd sponsored award are chosen by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Development Council. CVS Caremark is Mount Prospect's biggest employer.

"These are six examples of companies that are investing or reinvesting in our state and creating jobs," Doug Whitley, CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release.

CVS was looking for space to serve as its new mail service pharmacy and customer center that packages and ships prescription drugs for customers throughout the Midwest.

CVS bought the newly constructed shell of a 150,000-square-foot industrial building, did a complete interior build-out and opened the state-of-the-art facility on Wall Street near Algonquin Road in August 2013. It spent $67 million on the project.

About 220 employees were transferred to the center from another Mount Prospect location, and an additional 180 were hired. The staff includes licensed pharmacists, pharmacy techs and people who work in automation and processing. It processes as many as 50 million prescriptions annually.

CVS Caremark CEO Larry J. Merlo spoke with the Daily Herald when the building opened last year.

"What makes the opening of our new, high-tech mail service pharmacy located in Mount Prospect so interesting was our ability to use new technology to make this facility a showcase for our integrated pharmacy model," Merlo said. "The technology we use in this facility enables us to balance the best of high-tech automation with human expertise to streamline prescription fulfillment."

CVS Caremark has more than 8,000 workers in Illinois, including about 2,000 in the suburbs.