Industry News

St. Luke's Hospital, an affiliate of Sutter Health System, is constructing a $6.4-million heart center featuring a cardiac catheterization lab. The center, which will also house equipment for non-invasive diagnostic procedures such as echocardiograms and stress tests, is expected to open in spring of 2003.

Better Choice Packaging, a packaging and display company serving companies including Hershey, Arm & Hammer, and Bath & Body Works, will relocate operations from a 26,000-sf Camden facility to a newly purchased 50,300-sf, $640,000 facility sited on four acres in Camden, N.J.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has received approval from the federal government to build a laboratory for the study of potential biological weapons in Livermore, Calif. Rated Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3), the lab will enable research in the detection of potential threats including anthrax, botulism, and other diseases. In planning the facility, the National Nuclear Security Administration reviewed 92 public comments and, as a result, incorporated 33 changes to the planned facility.

The City of Poway broke ground on a 5,900-sf council chamber building and a two-story 50,400-sf City Hall office building in October 2002. The $14.6-million project was designed by McGraw/Baldwin Architects. Douglas E. Barnhart Inc. is providing construction management services.

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC) will soon complete a 44,000-sf expansion that will include a nucleic acid testing laboratory enabling earlier detection of Hepatitis C and HIV. The testing process will provide over 80 hospitals and clinics with the highest quality of blood available. The $10-million expansion will increase STBTC's headquarters to 125,000-sf and will include expanded facilities for umbilical blood storage.