Heavy dose of incentives seals deal.

• Position: TRIANGLE

The deal is official. The state will pay Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based pharmaceutical maker Merck & Co. (cover, April) up to $39.4 million in incentives to build a vaccine plant in Treyburn Corporate Park in Durham County. The $300 million plant will employ about 200 when it becomes fully operational in 2008. Salaries will average about $55,000 a year. Site preparation is scheduled to begin in June. Of the incentives, about $24 million will represent the state's first grant under its Site Infrastructure Development Program, adopted by the legislature in December. Of that amount, no more than $10.5 million can be spent on property...