When the privately-run but state-backed University of Delaware outbid private developers to buy the 272-acre former Chrysler manufacturing plant in Newark, Del., there was more than one agenda at work: UD President Pat Harker needed space for growing paramedical professional programs; state Gov. Jack Markell wanted to retain industrial jobs and attract more from the growing health and energy industries; private developers, local and out-of-state corporations, and growing school departments jockeyed for space.
To read how state natural-gas subsidies, cloud-computing investors from New York, the Obamacare-driven surge in demand for nurse-practicioners, and basketball star Elena Delle Donne's dad are helping turn UD's new property into "a public-private partnership that's probably driven more on the private side," read my story on Page One of today's Phiadelphia Inquirer here. (If you're not yet a subscriber you can still read it using promotions code B17B, this week.)