Port St. Lucie’s next biotech institute is one step closer to reality.

Oregon Health & Science University’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute signed a deal this month to design and build its new $30 million laboratory in the Tradition development west of Interstate 95.

The institute tapped Baltimore-based Whiting Turner Contracting Co. to oversee construction of the 105,000 square feet of laboratories and offices. The building is on target to be completed in May 2011, said Andrew Favata, vice president for Tradition’s developer, Core Communities LLC.

VGTI Florida, as the local campus has been dubbed, will be built on eight acres at Core Communities’ Florida Center for Innovation at Tradition, a fledgling research park that’s now home to another biotech outfit, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies.

VGTI intends to use its local labs to research ailments such as cancer, HIV and West Nile Virus, said Mark Williams, interim chief operating officer at VGTI Florida.

“If you’re going to do research into West Nile, you have to have a facility that does not permit even a microbe to get in or out,” he said. “That’s the level of security that these facilities require.”
And it doesn’t come cheap.

VGTI plans to buy about $10 million worth of equipment before it even builds the facility.
Portland, Ore.-based VGTI announced early last year it would open a Port St. Lucie campus, after the state enticed it with $60 million in incentives. The institute plans to use the state money for equipment, salaries and other operating costs it will need to cover before grant money starts flowing, Williams said.

The new building will be financed separately, using tax-exempt bonds issued by Tradition’s Community Development District.

VGTI Florida now has six employees who are working from leased space at the Torrey Pines Institute. By June 2018, VGTI must have created at least 200 jobs in Port St. Lucie, according to its contract with the state.

Tags: biotech, bond, bui, cancer, chief, communication, contract, development, Florida, Florida Center for Innovation, grants, Health, HIV, jobs, money, Oregon Health & Science University, salary, science, security, Tradition, vaccine and gene therapy, VGTI

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 9:15 am and is filed under Economy, Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie County, State, Tradition, Treasure Coast business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.