Summit County is helping bail out the struggling Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron.
County Council agreed Monday to provide the nonprofit medical research and development center with an annual $102,000 grant for four years and allow it to defer annual mortgage payments for five years.
The vote was 9-0, with two members absent.
The financial assistance is designed to give the nonprofit a lift while it attempts to reinvent itself.
“It is a phenomenal facility,” County Executive Russ Pry said. “It is a great asset and I believe they can make it successful as they reposition their mission.”
ABIA, a collaborative effort of local hospitals and universities, launched in late 2008 with great fanfare. The founders pledged to create 2,400 jobs within a decade and attract at least $50 million worth of investments annually in area health-care companies.
Despite millions being funneled into the operation, officials estimate that it has spawned only about 400 jobs so far and helped bring in a total of $72 million.
ABIA officials also acknowledged last week that the center, located in downtown Akron, was close to running out of money late last year.
ABIA recently received a $1 million infusion from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and an additional $1 million from an anonymous source.
Akron Children’s Hospital President and CEO Bill Considine, who is leading the effort to save the center, told the council last week that deferring the mortgage payments and providing the grant provide the group with “some runway” to help with the turnaround.
ABIA pays annual mortgage payments of $86,739 to the Development Finance Authority of Summit County, the economic development arm of the county government.
It also received a loan from the state to renovate its headquarters.
The county has guaranteed the loans. So if ABIA fails, county taxpayers are on the hook for more than $700,000 in annual payments.
The financial assistance will help improve the nonprofit’s chance for success and limit the county’s long-term liability, Pry said.
Late last week, it was revealed that a New York medical device company has sued ABIA for more than $3 million, claiming ABIA botched an agreement to run clinical tests on its wound healing product.
County officials said the suit had no impact on the county or its financial commitment to ABIA.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ.