Industry News

South Korea-based Hyundai celebrated the opening of its $1.1-billion automotive manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Ala., in May of 2005. Sited on over 1,700 acres, the 2 million-sf facility will produce the Sonata and Santa Fe vehicles. The plant will employ approximately 2,000 workers and will produce up to 300,000 vehicles annually at full capacity. The facility is the first Hyundai manufacturing plant in the United States. Hyundai is also planning to construct a $117-million research and technical center in Ann Arbor, Mich.  

The North Carolina National Guard is planning to build the $37 million Joint Forces Headquarters Armed Forces Reserve Center on 15 acres in Raleigh, N.C. Built to maximum anti-terrorism standards, the secure headquarters and staging facility will feature blast glass, fence lines, and the necessary standoff distances between parking lots and roads. The complex will also provide space for the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management's Operations Center.

Regional Medical Center of San Jose has selected Skanska USA Building as construction manager for a $74,000 hospital addition/renovation project in San Jose, Calif. Designed by Hayes & Oakley Architects, the project will include a 138,000-sf patient bed tower and 24,000 sf of renovations. The construction phase is expected to begin in August with a May 2008 completion. Regional Medical Center of San Jose is owned by HCA. The project will be managed by Skanska's Nashville, Tenn. office.

Baylor Health Care System will break ground on June 7, 2005 on the Texas Heart Hospital on Baylor's Plano campus. The $106-million, 180,000-sf facility will accommodate inpatient and outpatient care, heart surgery, cardiac catheterizations, vascular surgery, non-invasive cardiovascular testing, and 24-hour emergency care. The four-story, 68-bed facility, a partnership between Baylor and 86 cardiovascular physicians and surgeons, is expected to open in January 2007.

Pacific University will construct its 225,000-sf Health Professions campus on a half-acre site in Hillsboro, Ore. Slated to break ground on July 26, 2005, the school will be constructed in two phases over the next five years. The first 100,000-sf, $30-million phase is expected to open in fall 2006 and will house instructional spaces, a multidisciplinary clinic, dental science and pharmacy programs, student support, and space for the School of Professional Psychology.