Industry News

UNC Hospitals is planning to build a $150- to $200-million heart center in five to seven years. The building will consolidate cardiac care services including cardiology, cardiac testing, vascular services, and cardio-thoracic and pulmonary clinics. These services are currently housed in five separate buildings on the UNC Hospital's Chapel Hill campus. The new facility will also house inpatient beds and operating rooms.

The California Academy of Sciences is planning a state-of-the-art "green" museum and research center in San Francisco. The center will consolidate and replace Golden Gate Park facilities including the Morrison Planetarium, the Steinhart Aquarium, and other laboratories and exhibition halls. The Academy, the oldest natural history museum on the west coast, will close in 2004 and reopen in the new complex in 2008. Currently housed in 340,000 sf,  the academy will expand to 370,000 sf and will add a multilevel rainforest exhibit.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has awarded Parsons Brinckerhoff the contract to provide program management support for a capital improvement program with an annual budget of approximately $75 million. Working in concert with the Design and Construction Services group in MIT's Facilities Department, Parsons Brinckerhoff will be involved with managing interior renovations, remodeling projects and user improvements for over 100 projects campus wide.

Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury has selected Amenta/Emma Architects of Hartford, Ct., to design a new technology classroom building for academic and community use. The $31-million project, which is being administered by the State Department of Public Works, consists of a 100,000-sf building to replace the aging Founders Hall.

Sara Lee Corp. has selected Little & Associates of Charlotte, N.C., to provide architectural, land planning, and engineering services for an expansion of the manufacturer's Oak Summit campus. The $35-million expansion includes the addition of two 200,000-sf facilities on either side of Sara Lee's existing 255,000-sf building in Winston-Salem, which also was designed by Little. Construction is expected to begin in late summer of 2002 and reach completion in fall of 2003.