Industry News

Baptist Health System  is beginning construction on the redesigned Baptist Coosa Valley Medical Center in Sylacauga, Mass. Part of a $44.3-million initiative that began in 1998 with the $11-million replacement of the hospital's emergency department, surgery suites and admitting area, the renovation and expansion project is designed by the Birmingham, Ala., office of Newton-based TRO/The Ritchie Organization and project partners Birchfield Peneul & Associates LLC of Birmingham.

The Dallas Independent School District has selected Dallas-based HKS Inc. to design a $30-million stadium and field house in southern Dallas. HKS has been awarded more than $76-million in projects with three Dallas-Fort Worth area school districts, and is negotiating for projects with the Garland and Birdville independent school districts.

Honda Power Equipment Manufacturing (HPE) is investing $30-million in an expansion of its Swepsonville factory. The project will add a third production line, implement facility improvements, and create an additional 200 full-time jobs. Slated for completion in early 2004, the expansion will increase HPE's capacity for multi-purpose power equipment engines by 50 percent to 1.5 million units annually in 2004.

The Texas Pain Institute has broken ground on a $1.5-million facility. The two-story, 14,000-sf facility is part of the planned La Hacienda de Salud medical subdivision sited on 5.92 acres in San Antonio's South Texas Medical Center. The development, where physicians will own their own land and buildings, will eventually total up to 70,000-sf of health care and related space in nine buildings and cost approximately $10-million.

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