Industry News

The University of Michigan Medical School is building the new $220-million, 472,000-gsf Biomedical  Science Research Building  on its Ann Arbor campus. Containing 240 lab modules, each accommodating up to four researchers, the facility is designed to promote group interaction. Project features include an animal research facility, two levels below grade, and a 300-seat auditorium.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK) of St. Louis contracts to oversee initial projects of the Ames Modernization Program, a five-year, $430-million upgrade of the USDA animal disease research facilities on a 480-acre site in Ames, Iowa. The program will rebuild and centralize multiple laboratory and research centers, creating state-of-the-art laboratory and office environments in a campus designed for optimum functionality, flexibility, security, and future expansion.

Camden County College is building a 320,000-sf technology center and 200,000-sf, six-story parking garage. The $20-million facility will house 37,000-sf of classrooms, a technology center, laboratories, and 13,500-sf of retail including a bookstore.

Eckerd Drug is expanding its distribution operations with a move into a 415,000-sf facility in the Fairless Hills' Penn Warner Industrial Park. The building houses 14,000-sf of office space. Substantial renovations to the single-story building will be completed by owner Equity Industrial Partners prior to Eckerd's occupation of the building in the fourth quarter of 2002. Eckerd will maintain its 450,000-sf of leased space between the Bucks County Industrial Park in Langhorne and Morrisville.

The University of California, Berkeley is planning to initiate construction on the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) in the first quarter of 2003. The $60-million, 130,000-sf facility will be sited on the engineering portion of the campus.