Industry News

Webster University opened its new $21-million Emerson Library on July 1, 2003. The 71,500-sf, five-floor facility accommodates 750 data ports, 20 small-group study rooms, a 100-person lecture room, an electronic classroom, and a 25-computer cyber café. The facility is Webster's only U.S. library; all other Webster campuses can access the library's materials in computer labs. Contractor Paric Corp. broke ground on the project in 2001. The library was designed by architectural firm Perry, Dean, Rogers & Partners of Boston.  

Yale School of Medicine’s Biomedical Research and Teaching Facility, known as 300 Cedar Street, is designed to maximize collaboration between basic and clinical scientific disciplines. Designed by Payette Associates, the 450,000-gsf project was dedicated on the New Haven, Ct.,campus in May 2003. A six-story, 350,000-gsf wing supports flexible laboratories for 700 scientists focused on disease-related research. A four-story, 100,000-gsf wing supports medical education including the school’s new gross anatomy and histology teaching laboratories for medical and physician associate students.

The University of Texas at San Antonio has created the Center of Excellence in Biotechnology & Bioprocessing Education at Brooks City-Base. Sited in the newly renovated Building 175W, the 8,000-sf facility will train military and civilian personnel how to handle biosensors, vaccines, and other biological products.

Palo Alto Medical Foundation is planning the $23-million Clark Building, a 39,000-sf addition to the 300,000-sf medical clinic. Located adjacent to Stanford University, the space will house physician offices and the clinic’s sports medicine services. Plans are expected to be approved in October 2003. Funding for the building comes in part from a $5-million donation from the James H. Clark Charitable Foundation.

Sutter Tracy Community Hospital broke ground on its $23-million expansion in August 2003. The obstetrics department will be expanded by half, with four new patient rooms, a classroom, and a larger waiting room area. The number of treatment bays in the emergency room will increase from 9 to 14, with the waiting room expanding fivefold and the addition of a new waiting area for children. The existing surgery center will be remodeled, and a new 9,600-sf surgery center with 12 new outpatient rooms and facilities for ambulatory surgery procedures will be constructed.