ELLSWORTH, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The Jackson Laboratory is expanding to Ellsworth -- and creating more than two-hundred jobs for the area.
The non-profit will spend over $100 million, turning a former Lowe's building into a mouse breeding facility.Breeding and selling lab mice to researchers around the world is a big part of Jackson Labs’ business.
At any one time, there are over a million mice at their Bar Harbor location.
The organization hopes to have over 200 people to start raising them in Ellsworth as well.
"We expect the facility that we build to generate another 230 jobs for this part of the state immediately,” said the lab’s executive vice president, Chuck Hewitt. “We expect to use this facility for another thirty years.”
Ellsworth's city manager says the project has the potential to transform the city's economy.
“This is unique in the fact that Ellsworth has traditionally been a service center, so a lot of the jobs here are around local trade and retail,” said David Cole.
The new facility is expected to open in the next few years.