- March 27, 2024
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An increasingly bitter fight between giant Naples-based surgical equipment maker Arthrex and Collier County Commissioner Georgia Hiller could have a winner: Lee County.
Lee County, Collier's northern neighbor, has been courting Arthrex to expand its manufacturing facilities, especially after the surgical-equipment maker threatened to move out of Collier County last year. Fast-growing Arthrex projected $1 billion in revenues this year and has 1,000 employees in Naples.
Arthrex Founder and President Reinhold Schmieding had proposed expanding in Collier County, but commissioners snubbed him in favor of genetic research firm Jackson Laboratory last year. Shortly after the Jackson Laboratory deal fell through, Schmieding announced he planned to go ahead with an expansion in Collier County.
However, newly elected commissioner Georgia Hiller recently voted against incentives for Arthrex, prompting Schmieding to write an angry letter to the Naples Daily News insinuating that her vote and statements jeopardized Arthrex' expansion in Collier.
It's music to the ears of Lee County business recruiters.