PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida (VGTI Florida), a non-profit biomedical research institute, today corrected misstatements made by City of Port St. Lucie officials at a press conference the City hosted at City Hall this afternoon. VGTI Florida is especially disappointed that the City has inflamed this situation by communicating its position through the media rather than continuing discussions with VGTI Florida in good faith. This response covers priority items that VGTI Florida is obligated to immediately correct. An additional response is planned to be delivered to Port St. Lucie officials that chronicles VGTI Florida’s transparent communications with the City over the course of more than a year in an effort to jointly resolve the Institute’s financial challenges – always in a spirt of partnership, stressing a priority focus and desire to remain in Port St. Lucie as a key contributor to grow the life sciences at the Tradition Center for Innovation.
Key corrections for the record:
1) VGTI Florida is not in the midst of moving or leaving its facility in Port St. Lucie as incorrectly claimed by Port St. Lucie City Manager, Jeff Bremer. Mr. Bremer showed a photograph of a moving truck as supposed evidence that VGTI Florida was in the process of moving out. This is patently false. If the City had contacted VGTI Florida, they would have learned that one scientist was in the process of moving an individual lab to another institution in another state – a move that had been scheduled months ago.
2) City officials indicated that VGTI Florida was “extorting” the City in demanding a bail-out or threatening to leave. This statement blatantly ignores dozens of meetings with the City that have occurred for the course of more than a year. VGTI Florida has consistently approached the City of Port St. Lucie transparently and in a spirit of partnership, presenting multiple options to the City in an effort to remain in Port St. Lucie. For example, in November 2014, VGTI Florida arranged for Port St. Lucie officials to meet with Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in trying to develop a plan to sustain VGTI Florida’s presence in Port St. Lucie to conduct life-saving research. FAU presented a proposal to City staff to which no response was ever received by FAU. In separate meetings with VGTI Florida, certain members of City Council indicated that FAU’s proposal required a level of debt forgiveness which was a nonstarter. More recently, after exhausting every other option to stay in Port St. Lucie, VGTI Florida and FAU began exploratory discussions to relocate VGTI Florida’s Center for Diseases of Aging to FAU’s Jupiter campus, only as a final option if everything else fails. There is no firm commitment by either party to move to FAU’s campus at this time. VGTI Florida would only potentially proceed with this option if it is the final strategic opportunity to survive, preserve the maximum number of jobs and continue with its life-saving research.
3) VGTI Florida met with City staff on Wednesday, April 22, 2015, and shared the nature of its confidential discussions with FAU and the potential terms for a Jupiter relocation strategy. At that meeting, City staff specifically asked VGTI Florida if FAU would reconsider their previous proposal to sustain research in Port St. Lucie if the bond debt were forgiven. The City also asked for a letter outlining the various options, understanding that the option for VGTI Florida to relocate to the FAU Jupiter campus would be a final option only when all other attempts to stay were exhausted. VGTI Florida complied with the City’s request and delivered that letter on Monday, April 27, 2015. Again, that letter stressed that it was VGTI Florida’s strongest preference to remain in Port St. Lucie. After the letter was delivered, VGTI Florida reached out to Mr. Bremer the following day, but our call went unreturned. At no time prior to City statements published in the press did the City even attempt to communicate directly with VGTI Florida, either to express outrage or discuss any potential counter-proposal. The City has made no attempt since Monday to communicate with VGTI Florida except in the media, including today’s press conference to which VGTI Florida was not invited.
VGTI Florida is extremely disappointed that the City of Port St. Lucie betrayed our trust, ignored confidentiality requests that the City indicated they would comply with, omitted key events leading up to the letter delivered at their specific request, and abandoned all efforts to continue negotiations in good faith.
About the Center for Diseases of Aging at VGTI Florida:
The Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida (VGTI Florida) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) biomedical research institute that is positioned for its next stage of growth with the launch of its Center for Diseases of Aging (CDA). The CDA is a joint mission with researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet and is dedicated to the discovery and development of vital therapies to prevent, treat and cure the illnesses most commonly associated with aging, pioneering next-generation approaches such as targeted immunotherapies and regenerative medicine. For more information, please visit: www.vgtifl.org
