Mecca Farms
A former swath of citrus groves in Palm Beach County once earmarked for a research lab may instead become a shooting range, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
The county hoped to use the nearly 100-acre Mecca Farms for a biotech village anchored by the Scripps Research Institute, and sunk $100 million in public money into the failed project. [more]
Tenet Healthsystems has announced plans to build a new 80-bed hospital in Palm Beach Gardens in partnership with the Scripps Research Institute, the Palm Beach Post reported. The hospital will be built on 30 acres of county-owned land within the Briger tract, a wooded parcel along Interstate 95.
Construction of the hospital is slated to begin once state approvals are in place. The work should create 250 full-time jobs for two years.
Palm Beach County Commission Vice Chair Shelley Vana said the hospital is expected to create an economic impact of about $402 million over five years.
The creation of a biotech hub was the goal of an initial $300 million incentive grant given to Scripps in 2005 by the state.
“Four hundred is a good number, and it is a return on our investment,” Vana said. [Palm Beach Post]
Employment at biotechnology firms in Florida has risen 18 percent over
the last seven years, compared to just 7 percent of the state’s total
private-sector jobs, according to a report by Battelle, a
Cleveland-based research firm. The state has invested more than $1.5
billion on research labs, including Scripps Research Institute and Max
Planck Florida. The Palm Beach Gardens city council recently approved a
20-year plan for a one-square-mile lot for Scripps, and the Jupiter
Town Council also gave the nod to plans for a $50 million nursing home
and research lab in the city’s Abacoa neighborhood. The Max Planck
Society’s plans for a biomedical research institute in Jupiter approved in 2008 by the
Palm Beach County Commission. [Palm Beach Post]
A 20-year plan to develop a one-square-mile tract of land for Scripps Research Institute and more biotech companies in Palm Beach Gardens has been approved by the city council. The project had created much uproar among environmentalists, who claimed that initiative would destroy a rare forest ecosystem, sometimes staging provocative protests. The plan also include offices, retail, 300 hotel rooms and almost 3,000 residential units. [Palm Beach Post] Comments
A 20-year plan to develop a one-square-mile tract of land for Scripps Research Institute and more biotech companies in Palm Beach Gardens was approved by the city council. The Briger project had created much uproar among environmentalists, who claimed that initiative would destroy a rare forest ecosystem, sometimes staging provocative protests. The plans also include offices, retail, 300 hotel rooms and almost 3,000 residential properties. [Palm Beach Post] Comments
Since 2008, Palm Beach County has paid the Army Corps of Engineers to
keep a full-time permit reviewer on staff for the review of county
building projects. But a majority of county commissioners this week
said they were not in favor of continuing the contract, since the
county faces serious budget cuts. But county administrators said
getting rid of the employee could stall county projects. Work that will
need permits from the corps includes expansion plans for the biotech
research area surrounding the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter. [more]
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