Industry News

The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute is working with the National Institute of Standards & Technology to develop a planned expansion of the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology called CARB II. The 140,000-sf, $38-million project will host new laboratories, core facilities, and training programs for the biotech work force and will cost $50-million to build. CARB I is an 88,000-sf building sited on six acres at the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center in Rockville, Md.

Rockdale Hospital is planning a $60-million expansion of its Conyers, Ga., facility. The 173,000-sf project is comprised of a new three-story building adding 31 new beds, bringing the hospital’s total bed count to 138. The facility will house enhanced outpatient and inpatient services including mother-baby, medical-surgical, and intensive-care units. Construction is slated to begin in late 2003 and reach completion in 16 to 18 months. The hospital’s emergency department is also undergoing expansion and renovation, with completion expected in fall of 2003.

General Motors contracted Towanda-based Gibraltar Chimney to make emergency repairs to its Oklahoma City, N.Y., plant damaged by a tornado. GM’s four million-sf plant suffered over $60 million in damage when the tornado toppled two 120-ft tall steel stacks and severely damaged a third stack. The plant, damaged on May 8, 2003, was reopened that June.

Tenet HealthSystems is constructing the $125-million Centennial Medical Center in Frisco, Texas. Designed by RTKL, the 298,000-sf, 186-bed acute care hospital is a prototype hospital which will unveil the new “TenetCare” concept focused on providing superior levels of service to patients, physicians, and staff. In the hospital, functional adjacencies are of paramount importance, with operating rooms located next to intensive care, emergency next to imaging, and administration next to the physician lounge.

Graco Inc., a Minneapolis-based fluid-handling equipment manufacturer, is building a new 42,000-sf headquarters facility on its corporate campus. The building will house manufacturing and administrative operations currently located at Graco’s main plant facility. The project is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2004.