It's down to the wire again for Scripps Florida, the East Coast offshoot of the La Jolla, California-based research behemoth. A 2 May deadline looms to resolve an impasse with Palm Beach County officials over the opening of a Scripps branch in Jupiter. At issue: jobs. Scripps officials hope to create 545 jobs in return for $369 million from Florida and about $200 million from the county. County officials say the institute should be liable if it fails to produce the promised number of jobs or leaves before the 30-year deal is up.
This week, County Commissioner Burt Aaronson offered Scripps a compromise: Take out a $100 million bond, and the county will knock 15 years off the deal. But Scripps officials balked at the expense, saying the bond would require collateral and cost about $23 million in premiums. "We've said all along [the deal] can't put any of our assets in La Jolla at risk," says Scripps spokesperson Keith McKeown.
But don't count the deal out just yet. Scripps officials badly want to open a new Florida facility next year. And that would be hard to pull off at another site if the current deal falls through.
