The property, east of Interstate 75 and south of Fletcher Avenue, could ultimately be part of a research park being advocated by the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.

County commissioners agreed to purchase the land for $1 million Wednesday in a 6-0 vote. Jim Norman was not present for the vote.

Moffitt officials have indicated they are looking to partner in developing a bioscience campus of roughly 150 acres. Ideally, any such campus should be close to the university to create a hub, said Commissioner Mark Sharpe, an advocate of the idea.

Problem is, there are few blocs of land of that size near the university. Looking farther from campus could present zoning challenges, Sharpe said. He said it is possible that the agreed purchase could be a first piece of a larger initiative to create a series of mini bioscience hubs clustered close to the university.

"There is no perfect answer," Sharpe said. "We either act or we don't."

The Moffitt "campus" was proposed after the cancer center announced its plans to partner with pharmaceutical giant Merck to build M2Gen. The company will research ways to tailor drug treatments based on the type of cancerous tumor.

The county contributed millions to that project and agreed to commission a study on the feasibility of building a bioscience park or campus as a sort of Phase II. Commissioners heard the results of that study Wednesday.

The study indicated that such campuses or research clusters have been a key component of other communities' efforts to lure companies in the bioscience industry. While the region has its share of research and development companies, they are generally spread out, failing to give the area a bioscience identity.