Higher Education

Catholic University celebrated the official opening of the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center in Washington on April 10, 2003. The 104,000-sf, $27-million building was designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and built by Clark Construction Group. The center houses nine meeting rooms, an 800-seat dining room, and office and storage space for 31 student organizations. The building’s dining hall and food court will replace three campus dining facilities.

Boston University is engaged in a $220-million fitness center and arena project designed by architect Cannon Design. The 270,000-sf fitness and recreation center will house a competition-sized pool, a wellness center, a full-service sports medicine facility, a climbing wall, a weight-training and cardiovascular conditioning center, several multipurpose gymnasiums, squash and racquetball courts, and a juice bar. The Harry Agganis Sports and Entertainment Arena will be a multi-purpose space seating up to 7,000 spectators.

The University of Sacramento is planning to develop a private Catholic University at two locations in the Sacramento region. The $350-million project includes the construction of a full-service 250-acre residential campus at Mahler Field and the lease of 55,000-sf in downtown or midtown Sacramento for a graduate school of education, possibly with a bioethics institute. The graduate school is expected to open in 2005, with the residential campus ready to accommodate 7,000 students and 800 faculty in 2007.   

The University of the Pacific School of Dentistry is planning to develop the $15-million Molinari Project, an addition to the western side of the school’s San Francisco campus. The 60,000-sf expansion will house a clinical research center, new simulation and clinical facilities, a professional development center, student housing, and several stories of underground parking.

Construction has begun on the new Bindley Bioscience Center, a research building at Purdue University for their campus in West Lafayette, Indiana. The biosciences and engineering facility is one of five centers planned for a new $100-million Discovery Park addition to the West Lafayette campus.

The Loomis Chaffee School has selected Boston-based William Rawn Associates, Architects to design a new performing arts center and classroom building on the school's Windsor, Conn., campus. The cost for both projects is $32 million.

The University of Maryland has selected Bethesda-based Clark Construction as the general contractor for the $39-million Jeong H. Kim engineering building located on the school’s College Park campus. Designed by Oudens+Knopp/SmithGroup, the facility will house 22 labs for research and education in environmental engineering, transportation systems, and space research. The Kim building is slated for completion in December 2004.

North Carolina State University is engaged in constructing the $65-million University Apartments project in Raleigh. Consisting of 460,000 sf in eight buildings and a chiller plant, the development is designed by architect Hanbury Evans Newill Vlattas & Co. Centex is the construction manager. Engineers on the project team include Stewart Engineering (civil and structural) and RMF Engineering (MEP).

The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill is constructing the $50-million Ramshead facility. Designed by architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross, the project consists of a 278,000-gsf, 700-space, three-story parking deck, a two-story, 45,000-sf campus recreation building, and a two-story, 55,301-sf student dining facility. The project team consists of construction manager Rentenbach-Wilson, Stewart Engineering (civil and structural), and Affiliated Engineers (MEP).

North Carolina State University is building a $27-million Science Building in Raleigh. The 125,000-sf facility, designed by The Freelon Group, is expected to reach completion in February 2005. Centex is the construction manager; project engineers include Stewart Engineering (civil and structural) and RMF Engineering (MEP).  

The International Museum of Women is planning to build a $100-million facility on a 120,000-sf site at historic Pier 26 in San Francisco. Pending the necessary approvals, construction could begin in 2006 with completion expected in 2008. The museum would be the first in the world devoted solely to the culture and history of women.

The University of Missouri has selected J.E. Dunn Construction Co. as general contractor for its $59-million basketball arena in Columbia. Designed by CDFM2 Architecture, the 380,000-sf arena will contain over 15,000 seats, 25 box suites, a player development area with two locker rooms, a hydrotherapy pool and sauna, and new athletic department offices. Construction began on Feb. 10, 2003 and is slated for completion by Nov. 1, 2004.

The University of California, San Francisco has leased 66,000 sf of office space in San Francisco for its Medical Center finance and strategy group. UCSF is consolidating Medical Center finance operations at the new location, chosen for its proximity to the University's new Mission Bay campus.

Texas Lutheran University in Seguin is developing a 30,000-sf complex to house the College of Professional studies. Serving the departments of education, business administration and kinesiology, the facility will include a large tiered classroom, a conference center, seminar rooms, smaller classrooms and conference rooms, and faculty offices. Technological features will include electronically controlled projection screens and high-speed Internet access.

The National Archives Building, built in 1935, is undergoing a $110-million renovation that will restore the facility's rotunda and install fiber-optic lighting systems and high-security vaults. Mechanical and electrical systems will be upgraded, and head space in the exhibit galleries will be created by the removal of several floors, shrinking the building's total space from 1.4-million sf to 900,000 sf.