Industry News

The Department of Homeland Security announced the finalists for the possible location of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in August of 2008. The five locations reported as finalists are:

ProHealth will initiate construction in 2009 on a 56-bed hospital adjacent to its outpatient facility in Mukwonago, Wis. Slated for completion within two years, Waukesha Memorial Hospital-Mukwonago will be comprised of a three-story inpatient tower with emergency department, eight-bed ICU, surgery, and a cardiac catheterization laboratory. Project cost is estimated at between $75 million and $90 million.

Rice University is constructing the Collaborative Research Center in Houston. The 477,000-gsf project broke ground in December of 2006 and is slated for completion in early spring of 2009. Sited on 2.9 acres, the ten-story facility will accommodate bioscience and biotechnology research. The estimated construction cost of the LEED-certified facility is between $200 million and $300 million.

West Virginia University dedicated the $43 million Biomedical Research Center and the $17.5 million Health Sciences Learning Center in Morgantown in August of 2008. The four-story, 120,000-sf Biomedical Research Center houses the Multiple Sclerosis and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Center, the Sensory Neurosciences Research Center, and other biomedical research facilities.

Children's Hospital of Orange County has selected Jacobs Engineering Group as construction manager for its new 424,300-sf patient tower in Orange, Calif. The tower will be constructed in phases through 2020 for a total future bed count of 380. The project will include renovation of the existing hospital campus and central plant.