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German biotech research company looks into Florida site

If Max Planck Society opens a Jupiter facility, it would expand the state's biotech presence.

WEST PALM BEACH - A German biomedical research group is considering an expansion to Palm Beach County as area leaders work to create an extensive biotech hub in the region, officials said Wednesday.

The Munich-based Max Planck Society is considering opening a 100,000-square-foot research facility on Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter campus near the site where the Scripps Research Institute plans to locate, said Kelly Smallridge, president of the county's Business Development Board.

"The interest of Max Planck in Palm Beach County has been exactly what we envisioned, that once Scripps would move to this area that there would be a natural interest on behalf of many other bioscience companies," Smallridge said.

The $190-million deal still needs approval from the county commission and an agreement from the state to provide matching funds. Any final contract could be months away.

The Max Planck Society maintains 80 research institutes and other facilities devoted to studying evolutionary and cell biology, neuroscience and genetics, among other things, according to its Web site.

The society's Florida site would focus on research "to achieve a deeper understanding of the structure, dynamics and function of molecules and tissues" for use in medicines and bioengineering, according to the Business Development Board.

Officials from Max Planck did not immediately respond to an after-hours e-mail sent to the company's communication's office in Germany.

Scripps was the first to announce plans to come to Palm Beach County. The Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies then said it would build a research facility in Port St. Lucie, about 30 miles north of Jupiter, and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research will put a facility in Orlando.

[Last modified September 6, 2007, 00:12:54]