Industry News

The Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, Calif., is planning a $100-million expansion project. Doubling its existing space, the institute plans to add three buildings to its campus over the next ten years for a total footprint of 360,000 sf. Upon completion, the Buck Institute for Age Research will house 45 laboratories and a staff of 550 researchers.  

City of Hope National Medical Center opened the $200-million Helford Clinical Research Hospital in Duarte, Calif., on July 15, 2005. Designed by NBBJ, the 347,000-sf, 144-bed facility will advance research in cancer and other life threatening diseases and will house one of the nation's largest hematopoietic cell transplantation programs.

The University of Florida is developing the 23,500-gsf Center of Excellence for Regenerative Heath Biotechnology in Alachua County, Fla. Sited 13 miles from the University's Gainesville campus in the Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Incubator in the Progress Corporate Park, the facility will house up to 11,080 sf of cleanrooms and support space.

Ae Group ag, a German maker of automotive and aerospace die-casting parts, will invest $15 million to construct its North American headquarters and manufacturing plant in LaGrange, Ga. The 200,000-sf facility will feature a robotics and automation intensive high-pressure aluminum die casting line and a machining line. Construction on the facility will begin in August 2005 with the plant becoming operational in early 2006. Ae Group ag plans to invest a total of $50 million in the Georgia plant over the next five years.

The Food and Drug Administration has completed the 551,000-sf Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in White Oak, Md. Housing 1,750 employees, the facility is the largest building at the new FDA headquarters complex under construction in White Oak. Upon completion in 2010, the FDA campus will include 3.1 million sf of office and lab space and will consolidate employees from 48 leased sites in Maryland.