Jackson Lab Picks Sarasota as Main Florida Location
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- Published on Wednesday, 02 March 2011 17:22
The Jackson Laboratory has picked a new location in Sarasota County for its planned Florida facility.
The Maine-based genetics research institute had planned to build a genetics research lab near Ave Maria as the anchor for a proposed biomedical research complex on Oil Well Rd.
Jackson Lab Chief Operating Officer Chuck Hewitt announced in Sarasota Wednesday morning that the lab had chosen Sarasota as its main location after evaluating proposals in both the Sarasota and Tampa areas. The lab said in a news release that its partners in the project would be the University of South Florida (USF), which had agreed to partner with them at the Ave Maria location, as well as the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System, Sarasota County and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. He said the focus of the lab would be to develop genetics-based treatments for heart disease, Alzheimer's and diabetes.
The lab said it also would have some laboratories and offices in a satellite facility at the USF Health complex in Tampa and that the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and other community agencies will lead efforts to create a biomedical village around the Sarasota location that would include research, clinical medicine, education, and residential and retail activity.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that the project is dependent on support from Governor Rick Scott, and that the public expenditures would be split equally between the state and the county. The Herald-Tribune said that the county would seek voter approval for a bond to cover its share, and that if the bond were for $100 million it would increase property taxes in the county by about $10 a year per $100,000 of assessed value. The newspaper said that the county's preliminary polling indicates support for the project.
The Jackson Lab abandoned its efforts to build its facility near Ave Maria, on land that would have been donated by the Barron Collier Cos., in part because of backlash from many county residents over the cost of the proposal.