The Florida Atlantic Research and Development Authority, the City of Deerfield Beach, Florida Atlantic University, and Deerfield Research Park Ltd. presented the official groundbreaking on Wednesday, September 3rd of the much-anticipated FAU Research and Development Park at Deerfield Beach. The ceremony took place on site at Northeast 11th Avenue (FAU Research Park Boulevard) and I-95, just south of Southeast 10th Street in Deerfield Beach.
The Research and Development Park at Deerfield Beach continues a tradition established at the FAU Boca Raton campus Research Park, where the Florida Atlantic Research and Development Authority has partnered with the University to create customized applied research and educational programs for 23 tenants and a Technology Business Incubator. The park also fosters relationships between industry partners and FAU in the form of internships for students and advanced training for Park Partners employees.
The park, which benefits a wide population of constituents, will affiliate the City of Deerfield Beach with a well-established institution of higher learning, while providing educational opportunities to students at local schools such as Deerfield Beach High School. An influx of technology-based companies and the associated non-seasonal jobs will boost the City’s burgeoning economic development plans and create some 1000 high-tech jobs to broaden its job market. “It has been a complex transaction, but the end result will be a great product,” City Manager Larry Deetjen said. The partnership will also provide Florida Atlantic Research and Development Authority and FAU their first presence in Broward County, while remaining readily accessible to the Boca Raton campus and the Research and Development Park. The addition of the Deerfield Beach site will afford expanded benefits to FAU students and faculty alike.
Equally important are the advantages for businesses located in the Park. Location is everything. The Park is sited on prime property immediately adjacent to I-95, quickly accessible to the Sawgrass Expressway and 20 minutes from the FAU campus in Boca Raton. The Deerfield Beach Park will offer many of the same university partnership benefits seen at the Boca Raton site.
HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation, an Atlanta-based firm with several South Florida offices, will be the first tenant at the Deerfield Beach Park, creating a customer data center. FAU business professors envision tapping HomeBanc’s mortgage data for research. The Deerfield Beach Park would like to replicate the partnership success seen at the FAU Boca Raton site, where an impressive list of companies include U.S. BioSystems, Jet Turbine Services, Incorporated, Data Warehouse Corporation, The Tolly Group and Avalon Research Group. “The Research and Development Park at Deerfield Beach reinforces a commitment to economic growth that has been demonstrated by the more than 80 university-affiliated research parks in the nation,” says Mike Arts, chairman of the Research and Development Authority.
