Jackson Lab officials lay out aggressive schedule for $125M project

The Ellsworth Planning Board will be meeting with officials at Jackson Laboratory on Wednesday to begin the official review process of the Bar Harbor-based biomedical lab’s planned retrofitting and expansion of a 140,000-square-foot building that once housed a Lowe's Home Improvement retail store.

Lab officials say they have laid out an “aggressive schedule” to have the building fully operational by Dec. 31, 2017. To meet this 19-month time frame, The Ellsworth American says that Jackson officials are hoping to break the project into multiple packages and the associated city review into two parts.

According to the American, although this approach will be new to Ellsworth, City Planner Michele Gagnon said she feels very comfortable with the approach. City and lab officials plan to convene on June 1 to review the project’s outline and decide whether to give the lab’s proposal the green light.

The project, which was given a $125 million price tag in April, will see the former big-box location being converted into a mouse vivarium, where lab officials will breed research mice that the company will then sell to biomedical labs across the globe. In addition to the conversion, the project will see a 32,000-square-foot addition to the front of the building, the renovation of nearly 60% of the existing building and upgrades to the building’s façade.

Lab officials in April said that more than 100 employees will be working at the facility when it opens, with another 130 employees are expected to be added as the expansion kicks into high gear.

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