Bar Harbor, Maine—The Jackson Laboratory has completed the purchase of the former Lowe’s building in Ellsworth.
"Buying this building will enable us to expand our operations in a modular fashion more quickly, more sustainably, and more cost-effectively than constructing new facilities," says John Fitzpatrick, the Laboratory’s senior facilities director, "and will provide jobs in the local construction industry in addition to those generated to operate the facility."
Now that the sale is final, the Laboratory will begin a planning process to determine which functions will be located in the building. Fitzpatrick expects that given the time needed for planning, permitting and renovations, it will be a few years before Jackson employees report to work in the Ellsworth building.
In March the Laboratory announced its intention to purchase the 143,000-square-foot building, on a 17-acre site in Ellsworth. On June 6 the Ellsworth Planning Board unanimously approved sending an amendment to the Land Use Ordinance to the Ellsworth City Council; on June 18 the City Council approved a new comprehensive plan that would include research facilities as an approved use at the Lowe’s site.
The Jackson Laboratory currently has more than two dozen posted positions at its Bar Harbor headquarters, in addition to research faculty recruitment. Besides the Bar Harbor expansion, the Laboratory is growing its facilities in Sacramento, Calif., and building an institute for genomic medicine in Farmington, Conn.
The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution and National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center with a total staff of more than 1,400. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human disease, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community.
Contact(s):
Joyce Peterson, 207-288-6058, The Jackson Laboratory
For information on automatic email delivery of news releases (journalists only), please send an email request for details to news@jax.org. Please address other inquiries to pubinfo@jax.org.
Media Relations, Communications Office
The Jackson Laboratory
600 Main Street
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609-1500
Phone: 207-288-6058 (journalists only)
Main Jackson Laboratory phone: 207-288-6000
Fax: 207-288-6076
Email: news@jax.org
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