Lumberton-based Radwell International Inc. plans to move forward with the purchase of the vacant Express Scripts building in Willingboro now that the state has awarded it a $21 million tax credit package, company officials said Tuesday.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved the company's application for state assistance Friday, clearing it to finalize the purchase of the Willingboro building, said Dan Love, the company's senior vice president of business development.

The electronics firm, which sells and repairs new and used industrial electrical devices, expects to complete the purchase next month and begin moving some of its staff and operations to the Willingboro site. Additional renovation work and the installation of an automated inventory system is expected to occur next year so that the company can relocate the remainder of its operations by late 2016 or early 2017, Love said.

Radwell, which was founded in 1979 at Speck Industrial Controls, also considered relocating to a building in Arlington, Texas, but officials said the state incentives will allow it to remain headquartered in Burlington County.

The 320,000-square-foot Willingboro building is in the Town Center off Route 130 and Van Sciver Parkway and became available after Express Scripts completed the construction of a plant off Route 130 in Florence.

A total of 448 jobs are expected to move to Willingboro, and the company intends to create 145 new ones, according to information provided by the EDA.

The tax credits will be awarded to Radwell over the next 10 years through the state's Grow New Jersey Program, which was revamped in 2013 to make it more competitive with the incentives offered by other states, and to provide more aid and incentives for companies to make investments in distressed cities and South Jersey counties like Burlington.

California-based Ready Pac, defense contractor Lockheed Martin, Burlington Coat Factory and Destination Maternity have received multimillion-dollar tax credit packages under the program for capital projects in Burlington County.

The EDA estimates that the Radwell project will result in a net benefit of $47.6 million over the next 30 years based on the economic activity generated from the renovations and improvements at the Willingboro site and from the taxes paid by the company's New Jersey employees.

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