Two Fla. Cities Compete for Medical-Research Unit

Two Florida cities are competing to win a new research facility as a medical-research charity in California seeks to expand, reports The Palm Beach Post.

California’s Alfred E. Mann Foundation, which provides money to scientists studying diseases like diabetes, is talking with both Orlando and Port St. Lucie, the newspaper reports.

Both Florida cities are working hard to attract new biotechnology efforts.

In 2006, Port St. Lucie thought it had secured a deal to house the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, a La Jolla, Calif., nonprofit group that wanted to expand its research units. Instead, Burnham jilted the city and took a sweeter deal in Orlando at the last moment, leaving Port St. Lucie without the 300 new jobs expected from the research unit.