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JEFFERSON CITY — A state board gave preliminary support Tuesday for $3 million in bonds for Express Scripts to expand in north St. Louis County — building a drug distribution center that the company says will create almost 270 jobs.

The Missouri Development Finance Board gave the plan a unanimous nod, and final approval could come at the board’s next meeting on Sept. 15. If approved, the bonds will be made possible by Missouri’s BUILD program, which requires $15 million in new investment and at least 100 new jobs over the next three years for qualifying companies. The program can fund from $500,000 to $25 million for buildings and roadwork for projects in the state.

Express Scripts, among the St. Louis region’s largest employers and among the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits managers, plans a nearly $60 million expansion at NorthPark, a business park across Interstate 70 from its headquarters at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Construction of the 221,000-square-foot building on a 12-acre site could begin next month, Express Scripts said in its application for the state bonds. Operation could begin next April and 269 jobs would be added within a year of startup, the company said.

Express Scripts also is considering a site in Pennsylvania but wouldn’t provide details on any incentives there. The company said in its application for Missouri aid that it has "largely completed" lease negotiations for a site in Bristol, Pa.

"We are still reviewing our facilities in regards to capacity, geography and future planning," said spokeswoman Maria Palumbo. "Our exploration of options for expansion continues and it is too early in the process for us to comment on specifics compare car insurance prices."

Palumbo said Express Scripts "is very appreciative" of the Missouri board’s vote Tuesday.

John Fougere, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Economic Development, said state officials are hopeful "that an attractive package of incentives that includes the Missouri BUILD Program will prompt Express Scripts to strongly consider choosing the state of Missouri as a location for the company’s proposed expansion."

Express Scripts also is seeking more than $2.7 million in local property tax abatements and state sales tax exemptions of $1.1 million in the first year.

Tom Rocheford, the company’s vice president for facilities, told the board in a conference call Tuesday that Express Scripts plans to build a "high-volume filler," an automated pharmacy that would be the company’s largest.

Despite the recession, Express Scripts has continued to expand. It has added workers in recent months and hopes to complete by the end of the year its $4.7 billion purchase of WellPoint NextRx, a subsidiary of health insurance giant WellPoint.

Linda Martinez, head of the development finance board and the state’s director of economic development, said at Tuesday’s meeting that the Express Scripts plan could not only create new jobs soon but more jobs later if the company concentrates its "supply chain" activities in Missouri.

"I think this is an exciting possibility for our state," she said.

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