Lately, it seems as if the Bar Harbor, Maine–based Jackson Laboratory, famous for its research on mammalian genetics, cannot catch a break in its efforts to build a satellite research facility in Florida. Since 2003, the state has heavily recruited biomedical institutions including Scripps, Max Planck, Torrey Pines, Sanford-Burnham and the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (Nat. Med. 16, 1066–1069, 2010). But its attempts to engage Jackson Labs have been fraught with delays and setbacks.

As recently as the spring of 2010, Jackson Labs was in talks to locate its new branch in Naples, Florida. However, according to Tammie Nemecek, president of the Economic Development Council of Collier County, which includes Naples, that effort fell through when the state failed to fully finance its innovation fund, which would have provided Jackson Labs with $100 million to construct its facility, for two years in a row. Nemecek says that under then-governor Charlie Crist, “you didn't have that leadership at state level where you got the strategy and funding to do it.”

Critics of economic analyses conducted for Collier County argued that plans put forth by Jackson Labs included overly optimistic estimates of the number of jobs the project would create.

The saga concerning the Jackson Labs satellite has been back in the news since last month when the Florida State House approved a new, consolidated State Economic Enhancement and Development trust fund from which the money to build the Jackson Labs Florida satellite could be drawn.

Since the Collier County plans broke down, Jackson Labs has turned its attention to Sarasota County, Florida. An analysis conducted by officials in Sarasota County “projected that this project would more than repay the state's investment,” says Mike Hyde, vice president for advancement at Jackson Labs.

Under newly elected governor Rick Scott, all economic development plans must demonstrate an ability to pay back the state's investment in cumulative tax revenues within a 20-year time period. Sarasota County's analysis indicates the state will collect $130 million in tax revenue over 20 years on its $100 million investment, but “the only analysis that will count is the one that will be done by Enterprise Florida, the state's official estimators of economic impact,” says Hyde.

Moreover, as the state legislature, which is currently in session, reshuffles its mechanisms for funding job-creating industries, it's unclear whether the approximately $100 million in funds from the state required to initialize the project will be authorized this year. The legislature, which is wrestling with a $3.7 billion budget shortfall and cuts to services such as state pensions, finishes its current session on 6 May.

Doug Holder, Florida state representative for Sarasota County, is optimistic that Jackson Labs will come to his district, eventually. “I'm setting my sights on next year, but we will push this year as hard as we possibly can,” he says.