Industry News

Geomet Technologies has opened a 6,000-sf facility in Gaithersburg, Md., comprised of administrative space, three laboratories, and cold storage facilities. The facility will enable Geomet, a subsidiary of the Springfield-based homeland defense company Versar, to perform biological detection services testing. Operating as a biological safety level two (BSL-2) lab as certified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the labs can perform R&D on dangerous biological organisms including dead anthrax strains.

Sibley Memorial Hospital, a 340-bed, full-service hospital in Northwest D.C., is planning a new $10-million cancer center expected to open in fall of this year. Significantly increasing radiation therapy treatment capacity, the new single story 14,000-sf addition will be funded by $40 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds. The bonds will also help pay for the 8.5-acre site adjacent to the hospital purchased from the Army Corps of Engineers on which part of the cancer center will be located.

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.