Industry News

The Commonwealth of Virginia is constructing the 96,568-sf Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR) in Burkeville. Built by Gilbane Development Company under a turnkey approach for the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, the 100-bed VCBR will be the first of its kind in Virginia. A planned expansion will bring an additional 200 beds.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is putting a total of 900,000 sf of office space in Princeton, N.J., on the market with the intent to establish a long term leaseback. Part of the company's restructuring of its real estate holdings, the facilities to be sold are at two locations. The 77 Scudders Mill road site is comprised of 106 acres with three five-story office buildings connected by an underground service concourse with a multimedia studio. Permits are in place for a fourth five-story office building at the site as well as preliminary approval for two more buildings.

Emergent BioSolutions dedicated its 50,000-sf vaccine production plant in Lansing, Mich., on July 21, 2006. The $75-million, three-story facility will enable the company to expand production capacity for its anthrax vaccine, BioThrax®, as well as providing space for future immunobiotics development. Construction on the plant began in February 2006 and is expected to reach completion in early 2007, with FDA certification slated for 2008. The 24/7/365 facility will accommodate 275 employees. Emergent BioSolutions is part of BioPort Corporation.

Ohio State University (OSU) is constructing the $151-million Biomedical Research Tower on its Columbus campus. The 400,000-sf, 14-story building will be the largest research facility on campus with 180,000 sf of laboratory space. Slated for completion in late fall of 2006, the tower will house labs for biomedical research, core labs for shared use, faculty and administrative offices, a 250-seat auditorium, seminar rooms, and a cafe.

West Chester Medical Center broke ground in July 2006 on its new community hospital in West Chester, Mass. The first $207-million phase includes a 370,000-sf, 160-bed hospital with surgical, outpatient, emergency, and imaging services, as well as a 90,000-sf medical office building. Both facilities are slated for completion in late 2008. The second phase includes expansion of the hospital to 300 beds and construction of a second medical office building and parking garage. The third phase would involve construction of an additional patient tower.