Heartland, Vertex Moving to Boston’s Waterfront

Cambridge, MA-based Heartland Robotics, the manufacturing robotics company founded by Rod Brooks, is moving into a larger office space in Boston’s Fort Point district next week, according to a report in Mass High Tech. The news comes on the heels of a Boston Globe report that says Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]), also based in Cambridge, has signed a letter of intent to move its headquarters to Boston’s waterfront area (Fan Pier) in late 2013. The move is contingent upon Vertex receiving federal approval of its hepatitis C drug, telaprevir, according to the Globe (more details on that process here). Boston mayor Tom Menino has designated the waterfront area as an “Innovation District” and is providing tax incentives for Vertex. This isn’t the first time Vertex has talked about moving to Boston. In 2008, the company signed a similar letter of intent to move to Fan Pier before extending its leases in Cambridge the following year.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.