County Celebrates Grand Opening of Scripps Florida

February 26, 2009

	Cutting the ribbon to officially open Scripps Florida are (l-r) Commissioner Addie Greene, Hon. Alice Sullivan of the Scripps Board of Trustees, Scripps President Dr. Richard Lerner, Governor Charlie Crist, Commissioner Karen Marcus, and state Representatives Maria Sachs, Mary Brandenburg and Kelly Skidmore. « Previous | Next »

County Commissioners Jeff Koons and Karen Marcus, along with Governor Charlie Crist, Dr. Richard Lerner, president of The Scripps Research Institute, and a host of state lawmakers, dignitaries and invited guests attended a ribbon cutting on February 26 to officially open the new, state-of-the-art Scripps Florida biotech research complex in Jupiter.

Speaking to a crowd of approximately 800, Governor Crist declared 2009 “the year of science in Florida” and praised the vision of the Board of County Commissioners for making the dream a reality. “Florida is one of the top biotech centers in the world,” he said. “We must continue our commitment to these state-of-the-art research facilities.”

Palm Beach County contributed $187 million to construct the 350,000-square-foot biomedical research complex on 30 acres at FAU’s North Campus. An additional 70 acres are available for expansion on the adjacent Briger tract in Palm Beach Gardens.

“This is the proverbial public-private partnership,” said Commissioner Koons. “We have bet a lot on this.”

“It was a gamble, very bold, but we believe it will pay off big in the future,” said Commissioner Marcus. “We are so thankful for the partnership that we have.”
Nearly 300 faculty members, scientific, technical and administrative staff currently work at Scripps Florida, a division of The Scripps Research Institute headquartered in La Jolla, California. Scripps Florida and its neighbor, the Max Planck Florida Institute are at the center of the county’s blossoming biotechnology cluster that is projected to generate an estimated 6,500 new, high-paying jobs over the next 15 years.

After the ceremony, guests were invited to tour the three lab and administrative buildings. Several other events are planned through the weekend.