RESEARCH PARK LOOKS AHEAD AFTER VETOES

BYLINE: Eve Samples

St. Lucie County leaders have been working for years to get some momentum going at their 1,600-acre research park west of Fort Pierce.

It looked like they had it this year when the state legislature included in its budget two big-ticket items for the park: $4 million to build a new business incubator and $7.5 million to make way for more development by relocating land used for agricultural research.

But when Gov. Charlie Crist handed down his record-breaking list of vetoes last month, he struck those two items. Where does that leave the Treasure Coast Education and Research Park?

"In terms of the long-term planning and what we're doing there and doing throughout the Treasure Coast, it really is not significant at all," said state Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie.

Though Pruitt was a sponsor for both of the budget requests, he said last week that they aren't essential now to the success of the park or the region. The $4 million incubator would have provided about 10,000 square feet for fledgling companies, but such firms should be able to set up elsewhere in the near term, Pruitt said, pointing to places such as Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.

"Long-term, are we going to need it? Yes," Pruitt said.

Meanwhile, the park authority's director, Dick Kennedy, said the group probably will try for the money again next year. For now, the authority is working to complete a master plan for the park within about eight months. And it's thinking about enlisting a private developer to invest in the park, which now has about 260,000 square feet occupied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Florida.

Port St. Lucie's name popped up near the top of a national list of biotech deals last month.

Site Selection magazine, a trade publication of Norcross, Ga.-based Conway Data Inc., ranked the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies' decision to move its headquarters to Port St. Lucie as the country's fifth-biggest life science research-and-development deal of 2006.

The rankings were based on the capital investment fronted by the institute for the project - $55 million - and Conway Data evaluated about 200 projects for the list, said Ron Starner, general manager for Conway.

So does Port St. Lucie's inclusion boost the area's image?

"I would say it helps the region," Starner said.

By landing Torrey Pines, The Scripps Research Institute, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and other biotech players, Florida is climbing the country's list of biotech players, he said.

Since it moved to Fort Pierce from Delray Beach eight years ago, Real Stone and Granite Corp. has seen its sales triple to more than $10 million.

To keep up with the growth, the countertop and flooring fabricator is building a $5 million plant in Port St. Lucie. The 85,000-square-foot hub at LTC Ranch Industrial Park will be more than four times larger than the company's property in Fort Pierce, which is on the market for $1.7 million.

Chief Executive Officer and President Jose D. Ubilla, who owns the firm, hopes to open the new plant by early 2008.

Why is a housing-dependent business expanding during a housing slump?

Though business has slowed a bit, Ubilla said it remains strong enough to merit the move.

"We're only down about 15 percent from last year," he said.

That's not bad, he noted, considering 2006 was a record-breaking year for the firm.

Eve Samples covers Treasure Coast business. Contact her at The Palm Beach Post, 2101 S. Kanner Highway, Stuart, Fla. 34994; (772) 223-3559; or eve_samples@pbpost.com