Industry News

The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School has completed the $139.9-million Jon M. Huntsman Hall. Providing the business school with the latest technology, the 324,000-sf building features 48 classrooms equipped with multimedia, broadband audio, and videoconferencing capabilities provided to the school's San Francisco, France, and Singapore programs. Special infrared hearing devices enable the hearing-impaired to listen to lectures.

Memorial Hermann Healthcare System and the University of Texas Health Science Center are planning to build a 400,000-sf, 25-story medical office and ambulatory care center in Houston.

Kinetic Biosystems of Atlanta will locate a $40-million contract biomanufacturing plant for its KBI BioPharma division in the Triad region of North Carolina. The facility, to be housed initially in at least 30,000-sf on a site of 3 to 10 acres, will be a pilot plant for developing processes for manufacturing clinical-trial drug quantities using monoclonal antibodies. Greensboro, N.C., already houses one Kinetic Biosystems office.

Aero Plastics, maker of plastic storage products, will open its new 455,000-sf manufacturing facility in McDonough, Ga., in November. Located in Henry County's Greenwood Industrial Park, the facility was selected partially due to proximity to one of Aero's prime customers, The Home Depot Inc.

Siena College's Morrell Science Center recently won a First Place Technology Award in the category of Institutional Buildings in a regional competition organized by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Located in Loudonville, New York, the new 53,000-sf center houses a total of 46 teaching laboratories for physics, biology and chemistry, as well as offices, recitation and faculty rooms.