The Jackson Laboratory is again scrapping its plans for a Florida expansion, this time for good.
The Bar Harbor-based biotechnology nonprofit will withdraw its request for $100 million in Florida startup funds to build a new facility in Sarasota County, according to a press release from the organization. Executive Vice President Charles Hewett said economic development officials in Florida were supportive of the proposal, but a tight state budget made obtaining the necessary funding through the Florida Innovation Fund impossible. “We understand Florida’s budget situation, and we will turn our attention to other priorities,” he said.
Jackson Lab in March submitted the application for a 120,000-square-foot facility to study genetics-based treatments for a variety of diseases. The organization in January halted a similar plan for a $400 million facility in Collier County in January, after taxpayers and a private medical manufacturing firm filed lawsuits challenging the use of state funds.