Construction on the park's buildings will begin 1.5 years to two years after the completion of infrastructure, which includes a 20-acre lake that will be created from the sale and removal of top soil. The Deerfield Beach, FL-based Red Reef's first phase will be a 300,000-sf research center. It's estimated the project, which will be located along 244 State Hwy. L 10-11, just off State Hwy. 1, will take 10 years to build out. Whitney, Bailey, Cox and Magnani LLC of Baltimore is the architect, engineer and developer of the complex.

"They're looking at around 3.5 years before anyone could move in and start to work," Jack Turner, vice president of Whitney, Bailey, Cox and Magnani LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. He says the research facility needs to be in place before the hotel and recreational amenities are built. "Once they see the buildings going up, then the hotel and other possible amenities will follow," he adds. Red Reef has sold several tracts to residential developers, but is holding firm to the balance of the land for its scientific and medical research park.

When completed, the research facilities will be spread among four interconnected "green" buildings. Turner says green development makes sense because Red Reef Laboratories relies on green compounds for a good deal of its research and development.