Industry News

Pradco (Plastic Research and Development Co.) is planning to build a $21 million manufacturing facility in Fort Smith, Ark. Sited in the 7,000-acre Chaffee Crossing corporate park, the 300,000-sf facility will more than double Pradco’s plastic manufacturing operations.

Stempeutics Research opened a 5,000-sf stem cell research facility on the campus of Manipal University in India in July of 2008. Located at Shirdi Sai Baba Cancer Hospital, the cGMP laboratory will support therapeutics research and production with two Class 10,000 cleanrooms. The facility is designed to USA Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) standards and employ cGTP (current Good Tissue Practice) manufacturing processes.

Mercy Medical Center’s $262 million hospital in Merced, Calif., is slated for completion in December of 2009. Housing 196 private patient rooms, the 265,000-sf, eight-story facility will open to patients in spring of 2010. Mercy Medical Center is part of Catholic Healthcare West.

GE Healthcare is constructing a $165 million digital imaging production facility in the Rensselaer Technology Park in North Greenbush, N.Y.  Slated for completion in early 2009, the facility will produce sensors for digital mammography machines in a 60,000-sf cleanroom. LEED Gold certification for sustainable design will be sought for the project, which will feature use of natural light and rooftop solar panels to power the building’s laboratory and office wings. 

Trammell Crow has selected Gilbane Building Company to construct the 871,000-sf Discovery Tower in downtown Houston at an estimated cost of $156 million. Designed by Gensler Architects, the 30-story tower will have 10 wind turbines at the top of the structure that will harvest renewable energy by generating electricity.