PORT ST. LUCIE — Moving day is getting closer for Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies.

The last checklist items are being completed as the research institute prepares for a phased move from their temporary home at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce to the new $40 million complex in Tradition in early January.

While Torrey Pines administrators are expected to occupy their offices when the doors open, the scientists may wait another month or two before settling into the new lab space.

“In reality there is work going on that would create dust and noise and it’s easier to time our move so ongoing (chemistry and molecular biology) experiments are not disrupted,” said Torrey Pines President Richard Houghten.

The completed Torrey Pines building is envisioned as the first step in a biotechnology cluster at the Florida Center for Innovation at Tradition. California-based Mann Research Center plans to build a $100 million, 400,000-square-foot life sciences complex next door to Torrey Pines, and Oregon Health & Science University’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute also plans to move to the area.

Torrey Pines, founded in La Jolla, Calif., already has hired about 30 for administrative and research work. Within a decade the number should stand at 189 as part of a $90 million state and local package that attracted the company to relocate its headquarters to the East Coast.

Those current employees are to be initially joined in the new facility by a team of about 30 from the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. VGTI will occupy the third floor of the Torrey Pines building until their own structure is built.

– Jim Turner, TCPalm.com

Tags: biotech, Health, science, torrey pines, Tradition

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