The community college serving Manatee and Sarasota counties and Lakewood Ranch's developer envision a huge regional hub for luring new businesses and retaining existing ones.
Tuesday afternoon State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota unveiled its plans for a 72,000-square-foot building in Lakewood Ranch, straddling the Manatee-Sarasota county line. State College of Florida is the new name of Manatee Community College.
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll attended a Tuesday afternoon press conference, along with a host of officials from both counties.
Many of the details are still being worked out, but the college plans a regional economic development center called the Design & Economic Acceleration Laboratory, or The DEAL. The project is estimated to cost $14.4 million.
It would include a business incubator that would help promising small businesses grow and, eventually, might host the offices of all the Manatee-Sarasota area's economic development efforts.
The idea is that groups such as the Economic Development Council of Manatee County and the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County might consolidate their offices, a college news release said.
So far, neither economic development group has agreed to relocate its offices there, but each is willing to listen to the college's proposal, leaders of each group told the Tribune.
msasso@tampatrib.com
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