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.
John Fitzpatrick, the Laboratory’s senior facilities director, said that with the zoning issue clarified, the Laboratory would seek to complete the purchase agreement as soon as possible.
Fitzpatrick said the Laboratory intends to use the building for production, administrative and warehousing, but that the full planning and renovation process could take two to three years. “This project will provide jobs in the local construction industry as well as enable the Laboratory to grow its workforce in Ellsworth as well as Bar Harbor,” he said.
The institution currently has 34 posted positions at its Bar Harbor headquarters, in addition to research faculty recruitment.
The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution and National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center based in Bar Harbor, Maine, with a facility in Sacramento, Calif., an institute for genomic medicine in the architectural planning stage in Farmington, Conn., and a total staff of about 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
