Industry News

Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute opened the new 8,000-sf Center for Immunobiology and Vaccine Development in Oakland, Calif., in February 2005. The $5.6 million center was designed to accelerate research into serious infectious diseases for which no vaccines are available.

Carolinas HealthCare System has initiated construction on the 190,000-sf Morehead Medical Plaza. Designed by RTKL of Chicago, the master plan calls for a state-of-the-art outpatient medical campus on a 12-acre site adjacent to Carolina Medical Center in Charlotte. The 6-story medical office building, housing specialty clinics as well as independent physician offices, will be the anchor of the new outpatient care campus. A second outpatient facility will be developed in the future across the landscaped plaza.

The University of South Florida is developing the Crosley Campus Center on its Sarasota-Manatee campus. The 96,000-sf facility will accommodate training facilities for the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management; a 190-seat lecture hall; computer labs; seminar and video-conferencing rooms; 24 classrooms; a daycare center; faculty offices; a technology center; and dining facilities.

Mercedes-Benz U.S. International began construction in February 2005 on a $22.5 million service parts warehouse sited on 44 acres in Vance, Ala. Designed by Designform Inc., the 518,000-sf facility will be constructed by Cooper Construction.

The Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is planning to construct a 35,000-sf patient care facility and adjacent 10,000-sf surgical center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The project will triple research, patient care, and educational space for the eye institute, which is a unit of the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine. The facility will accommodate over 90,000 patient visits annually.