Industry News

Laboratory Tops, a Taylor, Texas-based manufacturer of epoxy-resin work surfaces, will expand from 85,000 sf to 115,000 sf within the year. The $3.2-million expansion will enable the company to hire up to 200 additional employees over the next five years.

The University of Texas at San Antonio has created the Center of Excellence in Biotechnology & Bioprocessing Education at Brooks City-Base. Sited in the newly renovated Building 175W, the 8,000-sf facility will train military and civilian personnel how to handle biosensors, vaccines, and other biological products.

Palo Alto Medical Foundation is planning the $23-million Clark Building, a 39,000-sf addition to the 300,000-sf medical clinic. Located adjacent to Stanford University, the space will house physician offices and the clinic’s sports medicine services. Plans are expected to be approved in October 2003. Funding for the building comes in part from a $5-million donation from the James H. Clark Charitable Foundation.

Sutter Tracy Community Hospital broke ground on its $23-million expansion in August 2003. The obstetrics department will be expanded by half, with four new patient rooms, a classroom, and a larger waiting room area. The number of treatment bays in the emergency room will increase from 9 to 14, with the waiting room expanding fivefold and the addition of a new waiting area for children. The existing surgery center will be remodeled, and a new 9,600-sf surgery center with 12 new outpatient rooms and facilities for ambulatory surgery procedures will be constructed.

Baptist Health System has contracted QORE Property Science of Jacksonville, Fla., to provide quality control services on two major construction projects in Jacksonville. Baptist Medical Center will expand with a four-story addition and four-story parking garage. Baptist South, a new 92-bed hospital, will be constructed on the Southside. Both projects are slated for completion in 12 months.