Research and Development

The Food and Drug Administration has leased 65,760 sf in a new building under construction in College Park for the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Laboratories will comprise 23,000-sf of the facility with the remainder as office space. Developed by Herndon-based Cambridge, the building is sited on 4.4 acres of land adjacent to an existing 300,000-sf FDA facility. Build-out of the facility, which will contain an additional 15,000-sf available for lease, will commence in March 2003. 

Cedra Clinical Research opened its new $1.4-million, 23,500-sf clinical trials research center in Austin in November 2002. Increasing Cedra's number of beds from 60 to 100, the center features amenities for study participants including space for recreational activities and movie screenings, a study area with computers, and comfortable furniture. Cedra conducts clinical trials in various therapeutic areas such as asthma and allergy research, hypertension, and diabetes.

BD Technologies is renovating its 100,000-sf Research Triangle Park facility to create an additional 14 laboratories and space for 35 more employees. The 30-year-old facility currently houses 40 laboratories for research in pharmaceutical drug delivery, advanced diagnostics and cellular science in engineering. BD Technologies, formerly the Becton Dickinson Research Center, provides 7,500 sf of incubator space for companies including Tranzyme, Synergy Vaccines, and SyneCor.

Tufts University recently dedicated the $65-million Jaharis Center for Biomedical and Nutrition Research Center, located next to Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. The 180,000-sf center will provide research facilities for the study of immunogenetics and genetic links between nutrition and disease.

The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center has selected Architects Delawie Wilkes Rodriques Barker of San Diego to design two new biotech R&D facilities. Totaling 108,245 sf, the $7.7-million project is located on 6.16-acres in the La Jolla Spectrum Business Park in Torrey Pines. Developed by CarrAmerica Development, the project will be built by general contractor DPR Construction of Redwood City. Construction is slated to begin by year-end 2002.

Harvard University will develop the Molecular Target Laboratory with a $40-million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The laboratory will use high throughput assays to identify disease-causing proteins and discover compounds to block them.

Engineering firm Swales Aerospace has completed a 34,000-sf production and office facility at its Beltsville campus. Combining two components, a 22,000-sf design center and a 23,000-sf fabrication complex for structural components and composites, the facility features a 28-ft tall bay area, temperature-controlled paint booths, and an ISO 9001-certified calibration laboratory.

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, is designing the Bindley Bioscience Center, an interdisciplinary, flexible research lab facility. To be constructed in Purdue’s Discovery Park development, the building is designed to foster interaction with the adjacent Birck Nanotechnology Center, the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, the e-Enterprise Center, and the departments of Life Sciences and Engineering. The facility will contain 18,000 sf of modularly configured laboratory space to accommodate the dynamic nature of the Center’s project flow.

The South Shore Tri-Town Development Commission has selected Irvine-based Lennar Partners as the master developer for the South Weymouth Naval Air Station base conversion project. Construction could begin in six to nine month on Phase I of the "smart growth" redevelopment, which will integrate "green," sustainable design, public transportation, protection of open space, and preservation of air and water quality.

Emory University's $82.7-million Whitehead Biomedical Research Building has earned a Silver certification according to the LEED building rating system as established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Designed by the Atlanta office of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK), the 325,000-sf, eight-story building opened in November 2001 and is the first building in the Southeast U.S. to achieve LEED certification, and one of only 24 LEED-certified facilities in the nation.

Purdue   Universityis developing the Bowen Civil High Performance Structures Lab, a large-scale laboratory for the Civil Engineering department.

PurdueUniversity is expanding the School of Chemical Engineering with a 96,000-sf addition. Part of the Purdue University Schools of Engineering Strategic Facilities Plan, the expansion includes an interactive multimedia learning center, a teaching lab for chemical engineering fundamentals, and an integrated lab complex for chemical and polymer engineering. The project will also house biomedical, catalysis and surface science research clusters. The addition is designed as flexible laboratory space to foster teamwork, interactive discussion and innovative research.

Nanomix, a nanotechnology company engaged in developing components for electronics, sensor applications and energy storage, has signed a 10-year lease for 13,000-sf in Emeryville. The facility, located in Wareham Development's 30,000-sf EmeryStation North, will be the first tenancy in the building's second stage of lab build-outs. Approximately half of the space will be used as laboratory, with the remaining as office space.

The University of California at San Francisco will complete the $22-million Genentech Hall next month. The hall is the first facility of the planned 20-building, 43-acre Mission Bay campus encompassing  2,650,000 sf of instructional, support, and biomedical lab facilities. Part of Catellus Development Corp.'s massive 303-acre project, the facility is ready for support staff occupancy as early as October and will see equipment moved in through the end of the year.

The University of Texas at San Antonio has leased 8,000 sf in Brooks Building 175 at Brooks Air Force Base to house a vaccine research training facility. Preparing molecular biologists, fermentation technicians, and genetic engineers to conduct vaccine-related research, the facility is slated to open by fall of 2003. The training center will accommodate both UTSA and military graduate and undergraduate students. City officials hope that the training facility will cause San Antonio to be chosen as the site of a proposed $1.5-billion national vaccine center.