The Jay Peak developers held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $118 million biotech plant in Newport on Thursday.
Bill Stenger and Ariel Quiros, the developers of AnC Bio Vermont, will begin construction of the AnC Bio facility on Monday.
The facility, funded by the EB-5 visa program, will be used for stem cell research and the manufacture of portable dialysis, liver and heart devices. In addition, the developers will lease “clean rooms,” or special laboratories to scientists.
Stenger has described AnC Bio as the “jewel” in the crown of projects he and Quiros have developed in the Northeast Kingdom over the past several years. Up to now, the developers have concentrated on building out Jay Peak and Q Burke resorts.
Construction of the biotech plant has been delayed several times, but is now on track for completion in 2016, Stenger says. The project will take 18 months to build.
The 85,000 square foot biotech plant will employ at least 2,300 workers, Stenger has said.
AnC Bio is to be funded with $110 million in EB-5 immigrant investor funds. In exchange for $500,000, qualified investors get a green card and eventually permanent residency in the United States. In all, the developers have used nearly $300 million to develop Jay Peak.
Stenger is looking for 15 to 20 more investors to raise another $10 million for the project. He is traveling to the Middle East and Africa this month to promote AnC Bio.
State regulators suspended the project last year, and the developers were not permitted to solicit more investors until they submitted a new private placement memorandum to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
Regulators have not yet given the project full approval. Questions remain about the relationship of AnC Bio Vermont to AnC Bio Korea, which has been in financial trouble.