Industry News

Ridgecrest Regional Hospital is preparing to begin construction on a $5.9-million Outpatient Services Center/Medical Office Building in Ridgecrest, Calif. Project contractor McCarthy will build a new 25,935-sf, two-level facility sited next to the existing hospital. The first floor will house outpatient services, ancillary space including a lobby and reception area, administrative offices, a staff lounge, and other support functions. The second floor will be shelled out for future occupancy of physician medical office space.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute opened the $80 million, 218,000-sf Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies on its Troy, N.Y., campus on September 10, 2004. The facility will accommodate research in drug synthesis, tissue repair and replacement, and biosensors and monitoring. Including 67,000-sf of lab and lab support space and 104,000-sf of public and administrative space, the four-story facility was designed by architects Burt Hill and Bohlin Cywinkski Jackson.

The University of Montevallo has completed construction on its new 89,000-sf student activity center in Montevallo, Ala. Designed by McKee and Associates of Montgomery, the $11.3 million facility houses a 3,000-seat convocation and concert area, raquetball courts, exercise rooms, a walking track, a 25-yard indoor swimming pool, and athletic department offices. The project contractor was McCrory Building Co. of Birmingham.

Denton-based Texas Women's University  will initiate an expansion of its Houston Center urban campus in 2005. A $3-million gift from the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation will enable construction of a 10-story, 202,000-sf facility housing several 120-seat lecture halls, a 250-seat auditorium, classrooms, seminar rooms, video conferencing, distance learning, and the Nelda C. Stark College of Nursing.

Lionville, Pa.-based West Pharmaceutical Services opened its new state-of-the-art molding manufacturing plant in Kinston, N.C., in late August of 2004. Sited on 25 acres, the facility provides over 100,000 sf of industrial space for the production of medical device components. West purchased the previously unoccuppied structure for $2 million and invested an additional $28 million in facility improvements. Replacing a building damaged by an explosion, ground was broken on the plant on July 1, 2003.