UPDATE: Commissioners Override Gov. Bush to Pick Jupiter Site for Scripps

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JUPITER, FL-In a four-to-three vote, Palm Beach County commissioners have selected the Jupiter/Abacoa site from among three contenders to replace Mecca Farms as the location for La Jolla, CA-based Scripps Research Institute’s biomedical research campus and surrounding Bioscience Research Park. In October 2005, based on a lawsuit by environmentalists, a judge halted construction already under way at the 1,920-acre Mecca Farms site, and litigation is expected to, at best, delay, and, at worst, prohibit completion there.

Other alternatives vying for the commissioners’ nod were Florida Research Park in Palm Beach Gardens and a location in Boca Raton. Prior to the vote, Gov. Jeb Bush advocated the Boca Raton location. In 2003, the state and country pledged $600 million in incentives to bring the Scripps center to Palm Beach County. It acquired the Mecca Farms land for $60 million, and prior to the judge’s ruling, Scripps had already begun construction of a 364,000-sf research building projected to cost $112 million.

The Jupiter/Abacoa site is also referred to as FAU/Briger, because it includes 30 acres within the Jupiter campus of Florida Atlantic University and 70 acres on an undeveloped 682-acre parcel owned by Briger. The proposal calls for FAU and Briger to each donate 30 acres and for the county to acquire an additional 40 acres from Briger for $16 million.

The board directed its staff to go to contract within 30 days. However, the transaction requires the approval of FAU; the state board of governors, which includes the governor and his cabinet; and the MacArthur Foundation, which will also make a land donation.

Following the decision, in a statement, Richard Lerner, Scripps president, thanked the commissioners “for their diligence and determination in making a difficult decision. …We now recommit ourselves with great eagerness to pursuing the biomedical research that will bring credit and pride to our community and to Florida.” “It feels good,” Peter Reed, managing director of Palm Beach Gardens-based Rendina Cos., tells GlobeSt.com. In joint venture with George De Guardiola, Rendina is developing the 2,055-acre, master-planned Abacoa community here. “We always felt Abacoa would be an ideal location. A big problem with Boca would be affordable housing. In addition to our 35 acres of land already entitled for one million sf of R&D development, there are 17,000 residences and the schools and infrastructure in place for the people and the companies Scripps will bring. When Mecca was offered up, we still felt that, although we’re 12 miles away, we would be a part of that cluster.

“Now, we’re happy it landed close to our door,” Reed continues. His company is currently marketing 270,000 sf of office condos to the medical community. “This gives us a nice immediate buzz and added marketing incentives.”