Lee OKs lease for research complex projected to bring 800 jobs ~ (by:  Laura Ruane of the News-Press)

Lee County commissioners Monday approved a ground lease for the creation of a bioscience and technology research park at Southwest Florida International Airport.

When completed, the complex is projected to bring as many as 800 jobs, of which about 500 would be new to the region.  These jobs include positions paying $65,000.00 a year or more.

That's welcome news, especially for Lee County, which in January endured its highest jobless rate in 15 years.  With home foreclosures high and building permit applications low, construction work on the bioscience park also is a big plus. 

"As we all know, our economy has weakened substantially.  Having a development opportunity like this couldn't have come at a better time," sad Bob Ball, executive director of the Lee County Port Authority.

"This is a tremendous economic boost. ...I can't wait to get started," said Commission Chairman Ray Judah.  The plan next goes to the Federal Aviation Administration for review.

The developer is Gulf Coast Technology Center Inc., a Florida corporation recently formed and owned by John W. Madden Jr., a Captiva Island resident.  His other firm, Denver-based John Madden Co., has more than 40 years' experience with development of big office buildings and office parks in Colorado, California, Arizona, Michigan and other states.

"Our vision is to create the hub for a new generation of scientific, technology and business leaders and researchers, clustered together in scientific collaboration," said Steve Brown, vie president/director of project development and grandson of the Madden Co. founder.

The park, dubbed the Madden Research Loop, will "bring in national companies big and small, that are doing medical research, clinical research, robotics," said Mary Briggs, local public relations consultant for the developer.

It promises to be aesthetically pleasing, with green-certified buildings clustered around a lake and naturally landscaped spaces with walking trails that will be open to public use.

More than 130 biotech organizations already are at work in the Sunshine State, according to Enterprise Florida, the public/private partnership promoting economic development.

Recent arrivals include the Florida Max Planck Institute of Bio-Imaging and The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter; Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in Port St. Lucie; and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research at Lake Nona, near Orlando.

The state also has announced it will put $80 million into the new University of Miami Human Genomics Institute, which will focus on using human genome research preventing, detecting and treating human disease.

The institute will be on the university campus, and will create more than 1,200 direct and indirect jobs.  Officials in Gov. Charlie Crist's administration say it would generate more than $3 billion for the economy over 20 years.

The bloom in biotech enterprise "is really happening all over the state, and not just in Southeast Florida," said C. Russell Allen.  He's president of BioFlorida Inc., a trade organization for the industry statewide.  A Southwest Florida chapter of BioFlorida debuted earlier this year.

Madden wants to break ground at Southwest Florida International as early as September and have the first building up in 2009, Brown said.

Phase One includes five buildings totaling 275,000 square fee of office and lab space and a three-story parking structure.  These will be built on 24.6 acres on the north side of Chamberlin Parkway, off Daniels Parkway.  The lease gives the company the option to lease additional parcels over the next eight years for a total of 120 nearby acres.

The Madden Research Loop is the first of several airport properties to be developed through a public/private partnership called Skyplex Commercial Center.  The port authority hopes to develop profitable uses for about 750 acres on the north side of the international airport.

Airport leaders are courting aviation businesses to lease prime parcels next to the runway, including the land that once held the airport's first passenger terminal, which was demolished in 2006.