The University of South Florida College of Nursing has received a $750,000 donation from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida to establish the Center for Advanced Nursing. Matched by funds from the state’s Facility Enhancement Challenge Grant Program, the facility will be a major component of the new USF Healthcare & Education Center that will house the College of Nursing and a center for integrated education and clinical care.
The Advanced Technology Center at Florida Community College at Jacksonville received the design excellence merit award from the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects on August 2, 2003. Designed by KBJ Architects, the 122,000-sf, three-phase technology center is a partnership between the business community and the college. Equipment for the classes taught in the $17.9-million center is donated by businesses, who utilize some of the space.
ITT Technical Institute has opened a new campus in Duluth, Ga. The newly constructed building accommodates ten classrooms, ten laboratories, and several administrative offices. ITT is one of the nation’s largest technical schools, with 75 campuses in the United States.
The University of Louisville has selected architects Arrasmith, Judd, Rapp, Chovan Inc. of Louisville and SmithGroup of Detroit to design its third biomedical research building at the downtown Health Sciences Campus. The $98 million, 250,000-sf facility is expected to reach seven or eight stories in height and will be constructed on a former U of L parking lot.
The Medical College of Georgia is developing a new research laboratory. The $1.9-million construction project will include the renovation of approximately 11,800 sf of lab and office space. Some existing synapses and cell signaling research labs will be torn down and replaced by new labs housing an electron microscope and two photon microscopes.
The University of Nuevo Leon (UANL) has designated 4,000 sf in Monterrey as Mexico’s first DNA diagnostics lab. Providing the university with a place to conduct clinical drug trials, the facility will focus on the commercialization of biotechnology research.
Louisburg College is initiating a $12-million renovation of its North Carolina residence halls. Nashville, Tenn.-based Athena Housing Partners will begin renovation of the first facility in August, 2003. Athena will fund the construction in exchange for the right to lease and operate the facilities, which were originally built in the 1950s and 1960s. Completion of the project, which will include the construction of one new residence hall and renovation of the three existing dorms, is slated for fall 2005.
The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health System (UPMC) is relocating to the campus of the former St. Francis Medical Center in the Lawrenceville area of Pittsburgh, Pa. This $575 million replacement hospital will house approximately 900,000-sf of clinical, procedure, treatment, support, and research space. Occupancy of the Lawrenceville hospital is expected in late spring of 2009.
The University of Florida has recently completed a modular research complex of BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratory space. Buildings for Science, a division of Britz-Heidbrink, completed the design, production, and installation of this world-class research facility in less than one year. The complex has its own mechanical room area, an office-break area, a unisex bathroom/change area, a pass-through shower into the BSL-3 lab with accommodating locker space, and two separate procedure areas.
Heritage Harbor Museum has selected Westwood-based StrategIT to design the IT infrastructure for its planned Providence facility in Rhode Island. The 250,000-sf museum, created by a consortium of 19 cultural and historical organizations, will house exhibit space, offices, collections, and library documents and books. Slated for completion in December 2005, the museum will be the first Smithsonian Institution affiliate in New England.
The city of St. Paul will develop a 125,500-sf office warehouse facility on 11 acres near the University of Minnesota as a biotech incubator. The facility will be sold to University Enterprise Laboratories, a university nonprofit created to develop the incubator.
Wingate University, a private North Carolina university, is engaged in several expansion and renovation projects. The Cannon academic building has been upfitted with labs, study rooms, a drug information center, lecture halls, and a student lounge. It will house the new Wingate University School of Pharmacy. The upstairs of the football field house is being converted to office and meeting rooms; completion is expected in August 2003. Renovations to Faculty Drive apartments will be completed this July.
Oregon Health & Science University has received $2.5-million of federal research funding to establish a National Center for Research on Bioterrorism Agents in Portland, Ore. Studying issues important to combating bioterrorism, the center will accommodate over 20 OHSU faculty members focused on disease research. A comprehensive database of pathogens will be developed to create more effective methods of vaccination against a bioterrorist attack.
Queens University of Charlotte, N.C., is planning to construct a $12-million, multi-sport athletic complex on 59 acres at Marion Diehl Park. The facilities will include soccer, baseball, lacrosse, and softball fields, a field house, trails, and track and tennis facilities. The complex will become the home of 11 of Queens’ 16 varsity sports.
The University of California, Davis, has completed the new 24,000-sf BSL3-AG Contained Research Facility, an agricultural facility focused on plant and entomological sciences. Designed by Anshen+Allen, it provides a highly secure, biologically contained environment and is the first of its kind in the United States. A “hoteling” concept provides researcher space to accommodate partnerships with universities and research foundations from around the world.
