BRIDG faces uncertain financing, could seek loan
Research facility requests $5M from UCF to cover expenses
The high-tech research facility BRIDG in Kissimmee would need to get a loan to cover expenses if a request for $5 million from UCF does not get approved, its leader said Monday.
BRIDG CEO Chester Kennedy says he does not yet foresee a situation where the facility would shut down.
“We don’t see a scenario that goes down that path,” he said in an interview. “But [the delay] certainly slows down our ability to generate the economic impact we feel we can have.”
UCF trustees last week delayed a decision on the money for 30 days, saying new board members needed more time to become familiar with BRIDG.
“We would be disappointed because it’s more than just a financial partnership,” Kennedy said. “We would have to turn to a variety of other sources. It’ll likely be a loan on some of the equipment and we are looking at a number of other ways.”
But convincing UCF’s board of trustees to add $5 million to an investment that has already reached $25.7 million could be a challenge.
UCF President Thad Seymour said during the meeting that he had little confidence in the site’s business plan.
Some trustees, meanwhile, have said they would not support the cash infusion.
“I have a desire to see BRIDG be successful, but I don’t think UCF, because of our past involvement, has any obligation to be the rescuer here,” Trustee Bill Yeargin said last week.
The project launched in spring 2017 with the goal of building Central Florida into the East Coast hub for research on high-tech sensors.
Initially, it had hoped for $125
million in investment from the state over five years to sustain itself. However, since 2017, the state has instead invested a total of $35 million.
“We have been asking the Legislature to step up,” Kennedy said. “When the Legislature hasn’t done that, we have had to turn to our other partners.”
Osceola County last week approved a plan to provide the group with a one-year deferment on rent payments for BRIDG’s office buildings on-site, for instance.
In approving it, commissioners said they wanted to build on the momentum created by recent defense contract awards.
In October, the site landed a $20 million Department of Defense contract to build technology to defend against cyber attacks.
Last month, the U.S. Air Force awarded BRIDG a $7.5 million contract to build platforms that will allow the agency to securely test chip-based technology.
Sensors, key to Internet of Things-related applications that have grown in popularity in the last decade, are now used in selfdriving
cars, home automation, advanced manufacturing and other industries.
BRIDG has attracted several research partners since its inception, including a UCF group that has been working on ways to make Everglades python hunters’ jobs easier through sensors.
Kennedy says officials from other military branches have also expressed interest.
“It’s sitting at the intersection of challenging and rewarding,” Kennedy said. “We have brought this capability online and the dedicated team here has done what few thought possible.”
BRIDG, which hopes to eventually attract thousands of high-paying tech jobs to Central Florida both through contractors and its own staff, employs 45 people as of this month. The site has been considered a potential anchor to a 500-acre NeoCity development off U.S. Highway 192.