Biomedical

The Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital and Health System are developing a joint 295,000-sf research facility in Wauwatosa, Wis. The $117-million project will be comprised of a two-level facility for laboratory and support services, and two three-story laboratory wings, one for each organization. Construction is slated to begin in late fall of 2004 with the center opening in December 2006.

California Pacific Medical Center’s Research Institute has been awarded almost $27 million in federal research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense. California Pacific Medical Center is planning over $1 billion in upcoming construction projects at its San Francisco campuses, including a new 100,000-sf research center at the Pacific campus that will be constructed in six years.

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will initiate construction in March 2005 on the 161,757-sf Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building. The $128.6-million facility will be the fourth major research building at the 43-acre Mission Bay campus. More than doubling UCSF’s cancer research space, the five-story structure will accommodate 46 principal cancer researchers. Occupancy is slated for December 2007. An 18,500-sf vivarium will house approximately 16,000 cages for lab research animals, including 12,020 rodent cages.

Merck opened the 300,000-sf Edward M. Scolnick Research Center in Boston in early October 2004. Featuring 12 stories above ground and six stories below ground, the facility will accommodate a total of 500 employees, including 400 scientists developing treatments for obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. Sited on the Emmanuel College campus, the biomedical research center was designed by architectural and engineering firm Kling.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Skanska USA the construction management services assignment for its new Biomedical Research Center in Baltimore , Md. Construction is under way on the 560,000-sf biomedical research laboratory designed to house the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Drug Abuse programs. The construction value is approximately $166 million. The new facility will contain clinical and research labs, office space, conference and lobby areas, and common sections with a library, food service, and security system throughout the building.

The Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences dedicated the Dybedal Center for Biosciences Research on October 4, 2004. Construction on the $15-million, 45,000-sf facility began in early 2003; the center will open by year-end 2004. Designed and built by Omar Rodriguez and Associates of Kansas City, the building will include one floor of proteomics research, one floor of clinical research, and will house the university's information technology equipment and operations.

Boston University Medical Center, Boston University, and the city of Boston celebrated the topping off of the eight-story BioSquare 3 in Boston in September 2004. Being the third lab and research facility on the 14-acre campus, the 160,000-sf building is 60 percent pre-leased to Boston University and Boston University Medical Center. Completion is expected in fall 2005.

Construction began in August 2004 on a $23-million public health laboratory in Little Rock for the Arkansas Department of Health. When completed in December 2005, the three-story, 82,000-sf facility will include nearly 50,000 sf of laboratory space for the high quality testing and control of bioterroristic agents as well as infectious and genetic diseases. The facility's architectural team includes designers at Atlanta-based Lord, Aeck & Sargent and Little Rock-based architect of record, The Wilcox Group.

Fremont, Calif.-based Protein Design Labs has opened a 210,000-sf commercial-scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Brooklyn Park , Minn. The facility will produce humanized monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of conditions including cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Emory University School of Medicine has selected The S/L/A/M Collaborative to provide architectural, engineering, and interior design services for the renovation and expansion of the Anatomy and Physiology buildings in Atlanta. Slated for completion in year-end 2007, the $37 million project involves comprehensive renovation and adaptive reuse of two historic buildings; programming, design, and construction of 100,000-sf of new space; and demolition of an outdated connector building.

The University of California, San Diego has completed construction of the new $45-million Leichtag Family Foundation Biomedical Research Building sited on the School of Medicine campus. General contractor McCarthy’s contract included construction of a four-level, 163,000-sf building with one below-grade level. The research building houses 40,000-sf of wet and dry lab space on four levels with 30 lab modules per floor, cold rooms, procedure rooms, dedicated dark rooms and research offices. The fourth floor houses Howard Hughes Medical Institute-supported research.

Cryo-Cell, a stem cell banking firm offering cord blood preservation, will occupy an 18,000-sf plant in Oldsmar, Fla. Developed by Harrod Properties, the facility will reach completion by late summer of 2004. Built to comply with federal regulations for good manufacturing practices for human cellular and tissue-based products, the facility will include a cleanroom and space for clinical services, administration, marketing, and processing of cord blood stem cells. The plant will be sited less than five miles from Cryo-Cell’s Clearwater, Fla., headquarters.

Kissimmee Animal Diagnostics Lab in Kissimmee, Fla., recently opened a new 1,650-sf biosafety level 3 laboratory. As the only animal testing facility of its kind in the state, the lab will support Florida’s homeland security programs and response to food safety threats by providing rapid screenings for diseases such as BSE in cattle populations. Funded by the state, the lab is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s pilot network of state and federal surveillance labs and is equipped with advanced diagnostic equipment.

Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., will develop the Center for Bioengineering & Computational Biology with a $1.6-million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Creating new research laboratories and a bioengineering teaching laboratory, the facility will feature an online system by which participants can view results from experiments conducted in the center over the Internet.