Biomed Firm To Add 50 Profession Jobs In Miami Gardens

By Tom Harlan
An Ontario medical-research firm plans to create at least 50 professional jobs and hire locally when it opens a research facility in Miami Gardens.

Allied Research International executives said this week that they will need professionals with degrees in science and business for jobs that pay an average $50,000 annually. The company plans to open in November at 1405 NW 167th St.

"We’re committed to a minimum of 50 jobs, but we expect to do better than that," said Piyush Patel, the company’s CEO.

Allied, which does FDA-approved research for pharmaceutical companies, is leasing the 25,000-square-foot site, which Dr. Patel said gives good access to the Palmetto Expressway. The company will have signage to give it high visibility.

The company is a target industry that will make a significant investment in the community when it opens its US operations here in an enterprise empowerment zone, said Pamela Fuertes, project manager for the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County’s economic development agency. The firm plans to invest $1.5 million in the area, according to documents from the Beacon Council.

The company has 78 full-time employees and a network of more than 90 specialists and physicians in Ontario and expects to expand to 200 employees in the next four years, Dr. Patel said. It employs scientists and health professionals but also hires students of clinical research, quality assurance, chemistry, pharmaceutical technology and business.

Allied surveyed other cities such as Buffalo and Atlanta and ranked them based on criteria such as population, diversity and quality of the workforce.

"Greater Miami has the people we need," Dr. Patel said. "The Beacon Council was instrumental in making a case for the area."

Allied applied to the state and the county in April for Qualified Target Industry incentives of $300,000 a year, including $60,000 from the county. The company expects to receive about $800,000 in incentives over the next five to seven years based on its expected employment and pay levels.

The company qualified for the incentives because it is part the highly sought biomed industry, said Ms. Fuertes. She also said the company is attractive because of the capital investment it will make in the county and the average salary of its employees.

For the company to receive the incentives, which will be in the form of a tax refund, it must achieve performance-based measures related to the creation of high-quality full-time jobs, she said.

"At the very minimum, the company must meet 80% of its job figures," she said. "If not, it will not receive the incentives."

Scripps Research Institute’s decision last year to base its Florida operations in Palm Beach County played a role in the company’s decision to move here, Dr. Patel said.

"We want to be where the big guys are," he said. "We’re not big, but we are a good-sized player in the field. We want to be part of the cluster of research institutions."