After looking around, Quintiles decides to stay in Overland Park

Quintiles, a Fortune 500 clinical research company, will keep its 600 employees in Overland Park.

The firm signed a seven-year lease to remain at 6700 W. 115th Street in Overland Park.

Its existing lease was set to expire at the end of the year. Quintiles considered moving elsewhere but decided to stay put.

“We did consider other locations before renewing our lease but eventually opted to remain in our existing location,” said Phil Bridges, a spokesman for the North Carolina-based company.

The Kansas Commerce Department on Tuesday could not say what, if any, incentives were offered to help retain the company.

Quintiles occupies most of the four-story, 235,485-square-foot office building.

It consolidated its local operations at the $47.7 million building in 2007. Prior to that, Quintiles had offices at the former Marion Laboratories complex in south Kansas City and a smaller presence in Lenexa.

At the time of the consolidation, Quintiles employed 850 workers there, including about 100 part-time workers, according to a Star report. It received more than $15 million worth of state and local incentives, including $3.5 million from the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "After looking around, Quintiles decides to stay in Overland Park."