Welcome Mats Out for Stem Cell Agency

In the market for about 17,000 square feet of prime commercial real estate?

How does a decade rent-free overlooking the 18th hole at Torrey Pines sound? Ocean view included.

Perhaps a location steps from San Francisco Bay, across from the Giants baseball park, more suits your fancy. Also gratis, of course.

Or consider the offer from Los Angeles of a private jet, or San Jose's dangling of a 24-hour concierge, "lush fountains" and an on-site exercise facility for your workers.

The object of all this affection: the headquarters for the state's new stem cell agency, which by law can employ only 50 people.

This week, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine attracted Olympic-style bids from nearly a dozen cities -- with offers of thousands of free hotel rooms in some of the priciest tourist cities in the state, turnkey laboratory space, a museum exhibit, interactive plasma television screens and many other perks, large and small.

The competition underscores what many California voters believed when 59% voted to fund the work: that embryonic stem cell research might be the next big thing. The agency, with $3 billion in research grants to distribute over a decade, marks the largest investment any state has made in science.

Behind the bids is the hope "that this will really establish the community in which the institute is located as a draw for all the brainpower associated with stem cells," said Claire Pomeroy, dean of the UC Davis Medical School who serves on the agency's site selection subcommittee.

Municipal pride is also involved. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist who helped craft the Los Angeles bid, said landing the agency would "help change our image from what some people think is La-La Land."

The proposals came even as the agency suffered missteps in its first three months that now leave in question how soon it will be able to distribute any of the promised $300 million a year in grants.

Although backers initially had talked about training grants going out as soon as spring, that expectation has now largely evaporated. Members of the agency's 29-person board agree that they still have many difficult decisions to make and legal hurdles to clear before any money can flow.

But in the middle of what one board member called "growing pains" came far more upbeat news: potential opulence for the headquarters staff.