Industry News

Leading research institution SRI International is planning to transform its 1.3 million-sf Menlo Park, Calif., campus with a project estimated to cost "several hundred million dollars." The rebuilding initiative will include renovation of seventy percent of SRI's research facilities in the next ten years, with construction expected to begin in 2006.

Toyota Motor Corp . will double the size of its Huntsville, Ala., engine plant with a $250-million expansion. Bringing the facility to a total worth of $490 million, the project will enable the plant to produce approximately 400,000 engines annually upon completion. The expansion of the plant, which opened in mid-2003, is the second in fourteen months. The first $20-million expansion was initiated in July 2003.

The University at Buffalo is developing the National Science Foundation George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Facility at Ketter Hall on the University's north campus in Amherst, N.Y. The $21.2-million facility, part of the National Science Foundation's overall $81.9-million project to improve understanding of earthquakes, features dual shake tables capable of real-time seismic testing of structures up to 30 feet high and 120 feet long.

Memorial Hermann Healthcare System will break ground on a $155 million medical office plaza at Texas Medical Center in Houston in October 2004. Housing over 500,000 sf and a 2,400-car parking garage, the facility will accommodate up to 200 physicians. With restaurant and retail occupying the first two floors, the building will house a 100,000-sf ambulatory care center with eight surgical suites, four endoscopy suites, and a full modality imaging center.

The University of South Florida St. Petersburg is planning to construct a $18.3-million student housing project. Slated for completion in fall 2006, the seven-story structure will accommodate 354 beds distributed in 79 four-bedroom apartments, seven two-bedroom units, and a one-bedroom apartment.