The company already has facilities on 90 acres in the city, and rents space in the area because of a lack of room, says Betsy Raymond, a spokeswoman for the company. There are about 3,200 employees and contractors of the company in Washtenaw County, around the Ann Arbor site.

Projects include:

* The 309,000-sf science and technology building will allow the company another way to make capsules and tablets. It will cost $189 million to build, and should open by December 2002. Kling Lindquist of Philadelphia designed it, and Turner Construction Co. is the construction manager.

* The multi-functional discovery laboratory, at 250,000 sf, will allow chemists and biologists to come up with new ideas and medicines, Raymond says. It will cost $64 million, and should open by December 2002. The designer is Flad and Associates of Wisconsin, and Gilbane Building Co. of Rhode Island is the construction manager.

* A 71,000-sf administrative building is under construction to house company executives. It will cost $22 million. Designers are SmithGroup of Detroit, and construction manager is Granger Construction Co. of Lansing. It should be open by this summer.

The rest of the money, about $25 million, will be used to purchase equipment, Raymond says. Even this large expansion won't be enough to hold the company's growth plans, she adds. "We're looking to expand the research and development arm of Pfizer globally," Raymond says.

There's six major R&D sites, she says, and Ann Arbor is one of them. She says the company is considering even more expansion plans, but is not sure which sites would grow further at this point.

Pfizer, headquartered in Connecticut, discovers, develops, manufactures and markets prescription needs for humans and animals, and also makes many consumer products. The Ann Arbor facility was formerly owned by Parke-Davis, was taken over by Warner-Lambert, and was acquired by Pfizer last June.