Industry News

A&T State University is renovating and expanding the genetics laboratories on its Greensboro, N.C. campus. The renovation is part of an initiative to establish a “center of excellence” to research the impact of genetics on African-Americans who contract hypertension, Alzheimer’s, and AIDS. The project is funded by a $4.6 million federal grant from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.

Lowe’s Cos. will initiate the second phase of its Mooresville, N.C. corporate offices in May 2004 with the construction of a 136,000-sf addition. Accommodating 600 employees, the building will provide expansion space for departments already located in Mooresville, as well as enabling the consolidation of two small leased offices. Completion of the second phase is expected by September 2005.  Additionally, Lowe’s recently opened the 94,000-sf Planogram facility on its Mooresville campus. The building is a mock store where merchandising displays and new products can be viewed.

The University of California Davis will complete construction of the Genome Center in summer of 2004. The center will occupy 52,000 sf in a new 211,000-sf research building and will accommodate 17 faculty members.

St. Joseph Health System has selected McCarthy Building Companies of Newport Beach, Calif., to construct a major expansion at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange, Calif. The four-story, $75-million St. Joseph Hospital Patient Care Center will deliver 240,000 sf of additional space to the historic 75-year-old facility. The project broke ground on March 19, 2004 and is scheduled for completion in April 2007.

Medical device sterilization provider Sterigenics completed the 35,000-sf expansion of its Santa Teresa, N.M., facility in January 2004. Kere Inc. of El Paso, Texas, was the contractor for the four-month project, which takes the plant up to 105,000 sf. Located in the Santa Teresa Business Center, the expansion consists of operations, warehouse, and trailer space.