Industry News

The Wistar Institute completed the $100 million Robert and Penny Fox Tower in Philadelphia in September of 2014. Designed by Ballinger to promote interaction and collaboration, the seven-story, 89,000-gsf facility provides advanced biomedical research space for the study of cancer, genetics, and vaccine development. Located on the University of Pennsylvania campus, the project represents an expansion of Wistar's existing facilities and increased the number of labs from 30 to 46, as well as delivering upgraded building infrastructure systems.

Texas A&M University will begin construction in January of 2015 on the Engineering Education Complex in College Station. Designed by Treanor Architects, the $137 million project includes construction of a 142,000-gsf addition as well as renovation of the existing 324,400-gsf Zachry Engineering Center. The completed facility will provide a total of 600,000 sf of technology-rich teaching and research space including flexible classrooms, shared design and fabrication suites, laboratories, collaboration areas, and offices.

Central Michigan University is constructing a $25 million facility for the College of Medicine in Saginaw. The two-story, 46,000-sf project is expected to attain LEED Silver sustainable design certification and will provide classrooms, procedure training rooms, offices, a student commons, and a library. The general contractor is Barton Malow and completion is expected in May of 2015. The project represents the first phase of CMU's $46.5 million College of Medicine East Campus, which is being created in partnership with Covenant HealthCare and St.

The University of Pennsylvania is constructing the $68.6 million Neural and Behavioral Sciences Building in Philadelphia. Designed by SmithGroup, the six-story interdisciplinary facility will support collaborative research in biology and psychology and will connect two existing structures. The 78,000-gsf building will house classrooms, research labs, offices, study areas, an auditorium, and interaction space. A minimum of LEED Silver sustainable certification will be sought for the facility, which will feature a metal mesh sunshade façade and a green roof.

Merck broke ground in August of 2014 on a $108 million pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Nantong, China. Located in the BioSpark development, the 430,560-sf facility will produce therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, thyroid disorders, and diabetes. The highly efficient project is designed to minimize waste during the manufacturing process. Completion is expected in 2016 with commercial operations commencing in 2017.