Biotechnology

The University of Rhode Island (URI) broke ground in March 2007 on the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences in Kingston, R.I. Funded in part by a $1 million donation from Amgen, the facility will serve as a major center of education and research that will drive economic development in the state's growing biotechnology industry. The architect for the center is Payette Associates of Boston, and Providence-based Gilbane Building Co. will serve as the construction manager.

Biotechnology firm FibroGen will relocate its headquarters and R&D operations to a 239,000-sf R&D facility in San Francisco’s Mission Bay in the fourth quarter of 2008. The facility is currently under construction and was designed by Dowler-Gruman Architects with Hathaway Dinwiddie as project contractor. FibroGen also plans to expand into a second 211,000-sf facility at the site that is being constructed to core and shell status. The site developers are Shorenstein Properties and SKS Investments.

Contract research organization Analytical Bio-Chemistry (ABC) broke ground in March 2007 on its new $14.4 million laboratory facility in Columbia, Mo. Sited in the University of Missouri’s Discovery Ridge Research Park, the 90,000-sf modular and scalable facility will house pharmaceutical development operations. The general contractor on the design-build project is ARCO Construction Company of St. Louis. The facility is being designed by ACI Boland Architects. Completion is slated for early 2008.

The Canadian federal government has announced the recipients of its 2007 research budget allocations. Science and technology growth will be supported by $1.3 billion in funding, including:

• $510 million to the Canada Foundation for Innovation 
• $350 million to Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research 
• $120 million to CANARIE to develop a next-generation research broadband network 
• $100 million to Genome Canada 
• $10 million to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Scripps Florida is planning to construct its new 350,000-sf facility on the Florida Atlantic University John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, Fla. Slated for completion in December 2008, the $18.6 million project will include three buildings. Building A will focus on chemistry, drug discovery, and translational research. Building B will focus on biotechnology, cells, genomes, and proteins, with an auditorium, cafeteria, and administrative offices. Building C will focus on biology and biomedical research.

The University of Puerto Rico has initiated construction on the $15 million Bioprocess Institute on its Mayaguez campus. Designed by CMA Architects & Engineers of San Juan, the facility will accommodate monoclonal bioprocess research and pilot-scale production. Completion is slated for 2008.

The University of Connecticut has purchased the 113,000-sf FarmTech building in Farmington and will spend $35-million to renovate it as a Center of Innovation for stem cell, genetics, and bioengineering research. Sited on 24 acres, the cross-disciplinary, collaborative facility will house wet and dry laboratories, business incubator space, classrooms, and the University’s human embryonic stem cell core laboratory. Sustainable design features of the building will include heat recovery systems and gray water recycling. The Center of Innovation is expected to open in 2009.

Elan Corp. is planning the $100-million construction of two buildings in South San Francisco. Totaling 185,000 sf, the three-story facilities will be owned by developer Chamberlin Associates and leased by Elan, enabling the pharmaceutical firm to hire an additional 500 employees. The project is being designed by Dowler-Gruman Architects. 

The City of New York is partnering with Alexandria Real Estate Equities of Pasadena, Calif., to develop the 1.1 million-sf East River Science Park. Groundbreaking will commence in early 2007 on the $700-million mixed-use life science campus sited on 3.5 acres in Manhattan. The first 670,000-sf phase of the project will consist of two towers, the first housing laboratory, office, and conference space; the second tower will house laboratory and office space over ground-level retail.

The University of Florida opened the 280,000-sf Cancer & Genetics Research Complex in Gainesville in late fall of 2006. The $84.5 million facility contains a five-story research wing of the UF Shands Cancer Center and a six-story Genetics Institute wing. The building also houses the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research and a forensic anthropology lab, the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory.

The University of Queensland opened the $70-million Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) in Brisbane on Oct. 23, 2006. Located on the school's St. Lucia campus, the six-level facility will accommodate research combining the biological, physical, and chemical sciences. Housing over 250 staff and students with a maximum capacity of 350, the center houses state-of-the-art microfabrication facilities, a GMP-ready bioprocessing facility, world-class microscopy facilities, and advanced data storage and visualization capabilities. 

UC Berkeley will open the $162-million Stanley Hall in January of 2007. The 285,000-sf biosciences and bioengineering facility will house approximately 40 research labs, administrative and bioengineering department offices, and up to 10 core facilities. One of these core facilities, the 11,000-sf Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center, will manufacture chips for biochemical and medical applications. Stanley Hall will serve over 30 faculty and over 100 graduate students and is designed to foster multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Texas Southern University has completed its new 165,000-sf Science Center. The four-story, $30-million facility features a full-height atrium and biology research and teaching labs for faculty and graduate students. The center also houses space for chemistry, mathematics, the Environmental Toxicology Ph.D. Program, and the NASA Research Center for Biotechnology and Environmental Health. Texas Southern is also constructing a $15-million, 82,000-sf Public Affairs, Liberal Arts, and Behavioral Sciences building.

Genentech is planning to add 2.5 million sf of space to its South San Francisco footprint over the next ten years. More than doubling the company's occupied space in the city, Genentech's ten-year master plan details the campus of the future as a 6 million-sf network of pedestrian-friendly sites with up to 16 new buildings. Office and laboratory space will comprise 50 percent of the expansion and will account for 33 percent of the new construction. The six-building West Campus will house a majority of the new development.

The State University of New York (SUNY) has selected The S/L/A/M Collaborative to design three new science projects. At SUNY Buffalo, the 145,000-sf Acheson Hall will be renovated to provide a new home for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences on the South Campus. The former chemistry building will be completely gutted and renovated to provide new classroom and biotech research space in a LEED® certified facility.