Home
E-Mail
Page Bottom
HomePage
binstmedres
chhosp
lakenona
sitemap
twnctr
ucfmedcoll
ufmedcityoutpost
vamedctr
whatsnew
Lake Nona Children's Hospital
Lake Nona College of Medicene
Lake Nona Community Facilities & Services
Lake Nona Institute for Medical Research
Lake Nona Sup Com Dev
Lake Nona Town Center
Lake Nona Town Wide Accounts
Lake Nona VA Medical Center
Lake Nona
April 13, 2009, Orlando Sentinel, Slump delays Uf's Medical City outpost, by Beth Kassab.
When the Burnham Institute for Medical Research announced it would come to Lake Nona three years ago, the University of Florida also pledged it would eventually follow with a research facility of its own.
Later this month, the first Burnham employees will begin to settle into their new "Medical City" digs, where their only neighbors will be the construction crews working on the University of Central Florida medical school and Nemours Children's Hospital.
The UF project is still confined to paper.
Money for the estimated $60 million building is currently "not available," said Win Phillips, vice president for research at UF.
He said the university remains committed to the project and has spent money planning the building as well as negotiating with Tavistock Group, the company that owns Lake Nona and is overseeing the development of Medical City.
"The land developer wants to make money, and we want everything for nothing," Phillips quipped about the planning, but added, "We will get it done."
Phillips said two years is a "nice goal" for completion of the building but couldn't offer a firmer timeline.
He said the building is being delayed by the recession in the way most capital projects have been but added, "People want this done. There's a lot more pull on this."
UF, which received $561.6 million in research funding last year, would bring the heft of a major internationally known research university to Lake Nona.
While its actual footprint there would be relatively small, its presence is intended to help Burnham, as well as UCF, attract faculty and grants.
Rasesh Thakkar, senior managing director of Tavistock, said the details of the agreement are still being worked out.
Asked if he was confident about ultimately reaching a deal he wrote in an e-mail, " ... In this economy, nothing is for sure — they do need to raise the funds and there's no one better in this state than UF in raising government funding or philanthropy. ... They are very committed and unless they really felt good about it, they wouldn't be spending the planning and design dollars."
Page Top