Industry News

The Pennsylvania College of Optometry is planning a new Student Community Center to be constructed at the Elkins Park Campus. Granary Associates of Philadelphia has been selected to provide architecture and interior design services. The Center will house state-of-the-art fitness and recreation facilities and provide a center for student life on campus. It will also serve as a meeting place for continuing education classes and alumni functions.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation celebrated the groundbreaking on its new Tampa field office on May 19, 2004. Located in the West Shore business district, the $26.6-million, 12,000-sf build-to-suit project is being constructed by Highwoods Properties of Raleigh, N.C. Replacing the bureau’s existing downtown Tampa facility, the new office is expected to reach completion in 2005.

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis opened the first phase of the Hamilton Eye Institute in early May 2004. The project includes ten research laboratories and a technologically advanced administrative suite equipped to provide telemedicine service. The facility will encompass 60,000-sf when it reaches completion in 2005. The final construction phase will create clinical facilities on the second, third, and fourth floors.

A new diagnostic biotech facility will be constructed on 100 acres south of the Texas Medical Center. The $80-million facility will be funded by $25 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund, $25 million each from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center, and $5 million from the University of Texas System.

Oxford Automotive has completed an $18.7-million manufacturing and distribution facility in the Jefferson Metropolitan Park in Birmingham. The 400,000-sf facility was designed by DesignForm and constructed by Doster Construction Co., both of Birmingham. The plant will produce assemblies and underbody stampings for the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance.