Industry News

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.

Southwest Washington Medical Center will develop a $123-million expansion of its Medical Center Campus on the 2.5-acre former Chrysler/Plymouth auto dealership site in Vancouver, Wash. The facility will add new surgery suites and 82 patient beds.

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center received a $2-million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to support the construction of the “North 8” wet lab shell space in St. Louis. The funding will be combined with $13-million in existing investments to construct a 60,000-sf “post-incubator” development sited next to the Danforth Center. The project will support plant and life science business growth in St. Louis. Future plans include expansion of the facility to 180,000 sf.