AP Features, September 5th, 2007
A German biomedical research group is eyeing an expansion to Palm Beach County in Florida 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 (9,290-sq. meter) 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 (euro139.83 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.
The society's Florida site would focus on research 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 (48 kilometers) north of Jupiter, and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research will put a facility in Orlando.
