The joint venture of Belgium-based Ion Beam Applications S.A. and its subsidiary, IBA Proton Therapy Inc., plans to develop the Institute at a 90,000-sf building adjacent to the University of Florida's Shands Hospital Jacksonville campus.

The local office of Orlando-based law firm Akerman Senterfitt represented the joint venture in the deal that lawyer Stephen G. Prom calls "one of the most complex transactions in decades in Jacksonville."

IBA, manufacturer of the proton beam equipment, will act as subordinate lender and lease guarantor through 2013. The project was funded with a $55-million bond floated by the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission; an $18.7-million bond issued by the City of Jacksonville; an $11-million contribution from the University of Florida from funds received from the Florida Legislature; $11 million in subordinate debt financing; and a $2-million contribution by IBA.

"People will be coming from around the world to this center, so this is of major significance to the Jacksonville healthcare community, as well as to this city's economy," Prom says. Akerman Senterfitt lawyers Terry A. Moore and Timothy A. Crass worked with Prom on the deal.

The two other proton therapy clinics in the US are at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, CA.