Industry News

Wayne State University has completed a $20 million renovation of the Gordon Scott Hall Basic Medical Sciences building in Detroit. Renovating 40,000 sf of research, teaching, and administrative space, the project increased usable square footage by 20 percent. Housing four open lab zones for comparative and collective research with separate areas for specialized equipment, the project also created space for four additional faculty members.

Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center is engaged in a $327 million expansion of its Memphis, Tenn., hospital. Nearly doubling patient care, research, and education facilities, the expansion is supported by a $5 million donation from FedEx and is slated for completion in 2011. As part of this expansion, Le Bonheur will construct the 25,000-sf FedEx Family House to provide housing for families of extended care patients. The project is comprised of 25 sleeping rooms, a small business center, a fitness and recreational center, and kitchen and dining facilities.

Cornell University celebrated the opening of the 79,000-square-foot East Campus Research Facility (ECRF) on June 26, 2007. Housing approximately 45,000 mice, including transgenic strains, the $55-million building will also accommodate rats, woodchucks, guinea pigs, hamsters, and chickens. Part of Cornell's $600-million New Life Sciences Initiative, the consolidated animal research facility was five years in the making and is expected to be fully operational in fall of 2007. The project was designed by Philadelphia-based Ballinger.

Arizona State University has selected HDR Architecture and Steven Ehrlich Architects as the design team for the new Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building (ISTB) IV in Tempe. The ISTB IV building is planned as a 250,000-sf structure comprised of high technology research, laboratory, and office space. Planning efforts indicate an estimated project cost of $140 million.

Construction has begun on the Nassau County Public Safety Center (NCPSC) located in a former warehouse complex in Westbury, N.Y. Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (SHCA) designed the new facility on behalf of Nassau County. URS Corporation is the construction manager for the project. The program manager is Carter Burgess.