Life-Saving Manufacturing Business Launches in Pinellas County, Florida
With assistance from Pinellas County’s Employment Sites Program (ESP), Chris Jaynes and Kathleen St. Jean have launched a truly life-saving business in Palm Harbor, Florida. AlloCyte is utilizing the ESP to help finance the renovation of an outdated manufacturing space, providing the start-up with the facility it needs to become the only U.S. producer of pharmaceutical preservation liquids required for human organ transplant. The project will result in rehabilitating more than 25,000 square feet of manufacturing space and brings 60 new high-wage jobs to Pinellas County.
Cofounders Chris Jaynes and Kathleen St. Jean selected the property in Palm Harbor after narrowing their search to the Tampa Bay area. “We knew we wanted a location in the southeastern U.S. and our priority attributes were a business-friendly environment, high quality of life, and proximity to major transplant hospitals,” explains Jaynes. “The Palm Harbor location checked all of our boxes.” Located within Pinellas County, Palm Harbor is near major life sciences institutions Moffitt Cancer Center and Tampa General Hospital and is readily accessible to Florida’s four organ procurement organizations and the nation’s largest kidney transplant center, Miami Transplant Institute.
The facility itself, however, requires significant and costly rehabilitation to meet the needs of AlloCyte. Jaynes’s and St. Jean’s real estate broker was familiar with Pinellas County’s ESP program, which provides funding to assist in the construction and redevelopment of industrial and office buildings to attract new target industry employers to Pinellas County. For the property AlloCyte purchased, almost $2 million in ESP funding will help retrofit cleanrooms, install water-injection and refrigeration systems, construct a new mechanical building, and make property updates to comply with codes and insurance requirements. St. Jean says, “The ESP funding is a critical component in making the location work for our needs. The location is perfect, and the existing building was foundationally right, but improvements are needed to fulfill our mission. We are very happy to have been connected with the Pinellas County Economic Development team to make this happen.”
Pinellas County Economic Development (PCED) staff members worked with AlloCyte to apply for ESP funding and helped hasten the permitting process through an economic development fast track incentive. Additionally, PCED’s Office of Small Business and Supplier Diversity helped connect Jaynes and St. Jean to a local bank to access financial assistance. “This is a great example of the ‘one-stop-shop’ nature of our work as economic developers,” explains PCED Director Dr. Cynthia Johnson. “The initial probe from AlloCyte was about our Employment Sites Program, but thanks to our knowledgeable staff’s further inquiries, it was determined that the company had additional needs for which we could provide assistance. Fostering good working relationships with our clients enables us to identify and even anticipate needs beyond their initial ask, and that’s what sets us apart from other organizations.”
AlloCyte launched in 2023 as a side product to Jaynes’s and St. Jean’s start-up company 34 Lives, which works to make organ transplants in the U.S. more efficient, more available, and more successful. In addition to launching AlloCyte in Pinellas County, Jaynes and St. Jean will be opening a second location at the site for 34 Lives. “Every day in the U.S., approximately 34 patients waiting for kidney transplants die or become too sick to remain on the waiting list,” explains St. Jean. “Our mission with 34 Lives is to ensure that every possible kidney donated is transplanted and not wasted: the best way to make that happen is to control our own supply chain. Launching AlloCyte to produce the organ preservation liquids needed by 34 Lives and other organ transplant organizations represents a huge step toward fulfilling our mission.”
“This project speaks strongly to our location as an excellent match for life sciences companies seeking to grow in an area that supports their unique industry needs,” states Dr. Johnson. “My team and I are very happy to welcome AllyoCyte and 34 Lives to Pinellas County and look forward to their continued growth here in our Ideal Business Climate.”
Learn more about 34 Lives and its work at 34lives.com.
Ready to grow your business in Pinellas County? Contact us at (727) 464-7332 to meet with our team.
Pinellas County – The Ideal Business Climate
Pinellas County Economic Development (PCED) works with existing businesses to encourage expansion and seeks to attract new companies with high-wage careers to Central Florida’s Gulf Coast. Through investment tools, professional courses and business counseling sessions, trade missions to open new markets, as well as local, regional and statewide partnerships, PCED fosters a pro-business climate in Pinellas County, Florida.
Pinellas County Economic Development
The EpiCenter, 13805 58th Street North, Suite 1-200
Clearwater, Florida 33760
(727) 464-7332 direct
(888) 759-5627 outside of Florida
(727) 464-7053 fax
EconDev@Pinellas.gov
