The fight is on and Naples and Collier County are right in the middle of it. The battle is to be able to bring Jackson Laboratory and their new $710 million research and medical facility to the county. The proposed 50 acre site for the project, to be donated by Barron Collier Co., is off Oil Well Road in Eastern Collier County and has already been approved and properly zoned. The real fight is regarding financing of the deal, and it starts with the Florida legislature. The county is attempting to get $50 million from this year's state budget of the Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development. According to State Rep. Tom Grady, R-Naples, "The way the house has funded economic development in the past, it seems likely it will fund Jackson." He cautioned however, "We need to continue to fight hard to get the $50 million for Jackson. It is not a done deal."
This $50 million from the state is just the start of the project's funding, but probably the most necessary. The total state package is expected to be $130 million with another $130 million coming locally. The company would also participate to the tune of $330 million, and $120 million in private donations are also needed. Initial estimates are for the creation of 200+ new jobs in the first year of operation, and growing to over seven thousand within ten years, with an annual economic impact of over $800 million. While initially the plan is to build an institute for personalized medicine, the ultimate target is an entire biomedical community including a hospital, support businesses and residential development.
Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit organization headquartered in Maine, with an additional facility in California, and employing nearly 1,400 people. The institute focuses on "genetics research to advance human health." Their self-proclaimed mission is "to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human disease, and to enable research for the global biomedical community."
The aim of this Institute for Personalized Medicine is to provide a more precise way of diagnosing and treating diseases based on the increasing knowledge of genetic variations among individuals. As they state "even the world's best scientists and doctors have limited knowledge of how different people...http://chrisanddick.wordpress.com
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