HUB `ON A ROLL' FOR INNOVATION
Vertex CEO gives sales pitch as Amazon bid deadline nears
Some of the biggest businesses in the city are backing City Hall’s push to land Amazon’s colossal new headquarters — with Vertex Pharmaceuticals the latest to jump on the bandwagon.
“We’re on a roll because of all the different pieces that are working so well. I think our ability to attract a GE and an Amazon has never been better,” said Vertex CEO Jeffrey Leiden. “To me, Boston is in the most exciting point I’ve ever been here for.”
Leiden said he wrote a letter to Amazon praising Boston’s mix of universities, startups and large companies.
“That ecosystem is really hard to put together,” Leiden said. “That’s the kind of place companies like Amazon and other innovators want to be. It’s about the people and the talent.”
The Boston bid will include a letter from executives at General Electric.
“We have been in contact with the mayor’s team and state officials to share some of the key factors that drove our decision to move our headquarters to Boston and offer advice on how to help companies relocate here,” a GE spokesman said in a statement. “The city and state were true partners, in everything from site selection to permitting our new campus.”
Leiden has also signed a letter that is being circulated by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a quasi-public state agency. The letter has also been signed by Cambridge internet services company Akamai, insurance company Mass-Mutual, along with iRobot.
Colin Angle, chief executive of Bedford-based iRobot, told the Herald last month Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was a mentor to him years ago. Angle also wrote his own letter espousing the merits of Massachusetts that will be included in the state bid.
Tomorrow marks the deadline for a month-and-a-half economic development sprint after Amazon said it would accept proposals from cities across North America for a new headquarters that could be as large as eight million square feet and cost $5 billion. Nearly every major city — and hundreds of smaller ones — have said they will submit bids.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said the city will not include a specific incentive offer in its initial bid, mirroring the state’s plan. Earlier this month, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said his state would offer $5 billion in incentives.
“The incentives are Boston, the incentives are the fact that we have world-class universities in our city,” Walsh said. “We’ll be as competitive as any other city in America when it comes to our brain power here.”
A Revere official said the city has been working with Boston on a submission related to Suffolk Downs.
Dan Atkinson contributed to this report.
‘To me, Boston is in the most exciting point I’ve ever been here for.’
— JEFF LEIDEN CEO at Vertex