The biotech group changes its mind about land it chose for a Florida facility and now may want to be next to FAU.
By SCOTT BARANCIK
Published November 12, 2003
With the ink barely dry on its $369-million deal with Florida, Scripps Research Institute already is reaching for the Wite-Out on its location.
Palm Beach County officials say the California biotech group is unhappy with the 2,000-acre tract it selected several weeks ago and now prefers a 100-acre site that is next to the north campus of Florida Atlantic University and the Florida Marlins' spring training stadium.
The late-inning change of heart is raising concern that the 50,000-job biotech cluster Gov. Bush promised to deliver over 15 years already may be in flux.
"Obviously, the economic development questions are going to have to be answered," Palm Beach County commissioner Mary McCarty said Tuesday.
After scouring potential Florida sites by car and helicopter last month, Scripps officials chose 2,000-acre Mecca Farms. Palm Beach County officials eagerly agreed to buy the land and build Scripps a state-of-the research facility at a local cost of up to $200-million. Officials from Orange, Hillsborough and other counties smiled bravely in defeat.
State lawmakers voted last month to give Scripps $369-million in exchange for opening a Florida campus. Gov. Jeb Bush, who did the early spade work on the deal, signed the bill into law Nov. 3.
After the bill signing, however, Scripps president Richard Lerner took a second look at a 100-acre site in a Jupiter development called Abacoa. Commission chairwoman Karen Marcus, who drove Lerner to the property that afternoon, said he was impressed by its proximity to the university, the ocean, and residential and commercial neighborhoods. Scripps general counsel Doug Bingham visited the property and owner Bruce Rendina later in the week, and made a presentation to Scripps' board on Monday.
Marcus said the asking price for the 100 acres alone is $22-million, compared to $60-million for Mecca Farms. She added that unlike Mecca Farms, the Abacoa site has roads, sewers and other infrastructure and is ready for construction.
Many uncertainties remain. McCarty said the Abacoa campus wouldn't be large enough to accommodate a biotech cluster unless county planners could cobble together several nonadjacent properties nearby, at an unknown cost. By contrast, the county was planning to set aside between 400 acres and 1,400 acres of Mecca Farms for companies other than Scripps.
In an e-mail, the governor expressed a similar concern. "Clearly, more land committed will help the county recoup its investment and allow us the chance to be "massively successful,"' Bush wrote to the Times.
State universities and other research institutions may object that the Abacoa site would give FAU an unfair advantage in collaborating with Scripps, a La Jolla, Calif., not-for-profit with powerful fundraising skills and contacts.
"If I were the president of Florida Atlantic, I'd be thrilled to death," said William Dalton, chief executive of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa. "I just hope they (Scripps) don't forget about us."
As to what influence FAU president and former Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan may have wielded, commissioner Marcus said, "He wants to be the campus for Scripps, and Scripps is trying to accommodate that."
She said FAU's campus has a 70-acre parcel that could be used for Scripps spinoffs or even an affiliated science high school.
During a public forum before the county commission last month, Rendina, who co-developed Abacoa and said he owns all of its commercial, multifamily and specialty land, offered Scripps a $1-million personal contribution if it chose the Abacoa location. He also suggested at the time that the $1-million could be upped to $4-million with matching funds from government and private sources.
In an interview Tuesday, he said, "I'm not familiar, honestly, with how the matching program works."
-Times researcher Cathy Wos and staff writer Lucy Morgan contributed to this report. Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or 727 893-8751.
Pluses and minuses
Three weeks after announcing it would establish its Florida campus on a 2,000-acre tract called Mecca Farms, Scripps Research Institute is reportedly leaning toward an alternate site: a 103-acre property across the street from Florida Atlantic University. Some possible advantages and disadvantages of the Abacoa site:
PLUSES
Proximity to a university campus
70 acres available at FAU for spinoff companies or affiliated high school
Closer to the ocean (approx. 2 miles)
Close to I-95
Located close to homes, restaurants, movie theaters, minor league baseball stadium
Already has proper zoning, infrastructure
MINUSES
Lacks built-in, adjacent space for spinoff companies, the heart of the economic impact estimates
Requires Palm Beach County to form piecemeal Scripps "campus" by buying land from several different parties, making negotiation more difficult
Raises concerns that Scripps is fickle, state has little say
Gives FAU an advantage over other colleges in terms of collaboration
Makes it less likely Palm Beach County can recoup its $200-million investment by selling off surplus land
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
What would it cost Palm Beach County to purchase the various properties?
Would there be enough space on the Abacoa property for spinoff companies, out-of-state businesses, venture capitalists and other researchers to set up shop there?
Would Scripps' arrival still inspire 50,000 new jobs over 15 years, as Gov. Bush predicted?
