Research and Development

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is building a 3,000,000-gsf campus on 130 acres in the 660-acre White Oak Federal Center in Silver Spring, Md. The General Services Administration's National Capital Region broke ground on the first 125,000-gsf building in March of 2001. Designed by Kling Lindquist and RTKL Associates, the facility is a laboratory for the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Now 40% complete, the lab is slated for occupancy in early fiscal 2003.

The second phase of the Western Research Campus in Richmond is currently being entitled. Simeon Commercial Properties will break ground on the 90,000-sf life science facility in the spring of 2003.

North Carolina State University (NCSU) is planning a $31-million, 103,000-sf research addition to the School of Veterinary Medicine. Designed by Flad & Associates, the four-story building will house research labs, offices, and conference rooms. A new subsurface infrastructure tunnel will provide utilities to the facility. The addition is expected to open in October 2004. The School of Veterinary Medicine is located on the Centennial Biomedical Campus, now part of NCSU's Centennial Campus.  

Applied Biosystems Group of Foster City, Calif., began construction in January on its R&D, office, and manufacturing project sited on 80 acres in Pleasanton. Totalling just under 1,000,000-sf, the planned seven-building complex will be developed on an as-needed basis. Applied Biosystems will invest $80-million this fiscal year in the first two buildings. The first, a two-story, 90,000-sf facility slated for completion in the spring, will be followed by a three-story, 140,000-sf building to reach completion in fall 2003.

Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), the research arm of Oakland's Children's Hospital, has opened the Nutrition Genomics Center. The research center was funded by an $8-million gift to renovate and equip 14,000 sf of office space.  

North Carolina State University will begin construction on the Partners III building in October 2002. The $24-million, 80,000-sf facility will house nanotechnology laboratory and research facilities and is slated for completion in July 2004.

DPT Laboratories Ltd. of San Antonio, a developer, manufacturer, packager and distributer of over-the-counter and prescription skin-care products for pharmaceutical companies, is in the process of completing a $5-million, 32,000-sf R&D facility housing additional chemistry labs and accommodating 75 scientists. The building will both support DPT's contract manufacturing operations, as well as provide expansion space for the company's live-cell therapy research.

North Carolina State University will soon break ground on a new nanotechnology research facility on its Centennial Campus in Raleigh. The $24-million, 80,000-sf Partners III building is expected to open in July of 2004.

The State University at Albany's Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics will expand with a massive $400-million research and development center. Created by an international consortium of computer chip manufacturers, the site will employ 250 researchers engaged in 300-millimeter chip development. The state of New York will contribute $210-million for construction, equipment, and specialized tools.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is proposing to build a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) pathogen research facility for the study of hazardous airborne diseases. Construction costs for the three-lab, 1,100-sf building could reach $1.5-million. Completion could be expected as early as 2003. Lawrence Livermore and New Mexico's Los Alamos Laboratory are the first Department of Energy labs to seek permission to study these pathogens.

Cytec Industries has selected Flad & Associates to design a renovation to their facility in Stamford, Ct. Flad is providing full architectural design services including programming, planning and structural engineering design for the renovation of 240,000 sf of lab and support space. Other team members include Affiliated Engineers of Gainesville, Florida, and Turner Construction of Milford, Ct., providing estimating and construction services.

Delta Search Labs is building a $300-million supercomputer lab in 50,000-sf of leased space at 700 Technology Square at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Expanding its 15,000-sf Kendall Square supercomputer operations, the new facility will enable researchers to visualize their data. 

RTI International (RTI), formerly Research Triangle Institute, plans to double its 750,000 sf of lab and office space in Research Triangle Park as part of a 15-year facilities plan. RTI is also planning to expand its European and South African operations. Launching a campaign to double revenue and support further independent research, the nonprofit organization is pursuing an aggressive growth plan to become a premier research institute.

The American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) is planning a new conference center on a 190-acre site in Morgan Hill, Calif. Funded by a $5-million grant from the National Science Foundation, the AIM Research Conference Center (ARCC) will include the use of two existing buildings and renovation of another large building on the site. The architectural style for the new research center is modeled on the famous "Alhambra", the Moorish palace in Granada, Spain, renowned for its geometric proportions and mathematically intricate patterns.

Geomet Technologies has opened a 6,000-sf facility in Gaithersburg, Md., comprised of administrative space, three laboratories, and cold storage facilities. The facility will enable Geomet, a subsidiary of the Springfield-based homeland defense company Versar, to perform biological detection services testing. Operating as a biological safety level two (BSL-2) lab as certified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the labs can perform R&D on dangerous biological organisms including dead anthrax strains.