Industry News

Dartmouth College is renovating and expanding its campus science facilities. The 270,000-sf, multi-phased project, designed by Centerbrook Architects of Centerbrook, Ct., and managed by Boston-based George B.H. Macomber Company, provides state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities for a four-building complex including Steele Laboratory, Wilder Laboratory, and Fairchild Tower and the Fairchild Building. Steele Laboratory will undergo complete internal renovations and a new mechanical penthouse will be added.

The University of Evansville’s Koch Center for Engineering and Science  33,0000-sf addition was recently completed by Holabird & Root of Chicago. The addition creates a new façade and new atrium for the building. The final phase of the project will bring a complete renovation of the existing Center and will house teaching and research labs, faculty offices, and support spaces. Completion is scheduled for spring 2002.

Rainin Instrument Co., based in Emeryville, Calif., is building a $15 million, 185,000-sf office and manufacturing facility on 7.8 acres in Oakland’s Hegenberger corridor, where biotech companies and their suppliers are beginning to congregate. The new facility is slated to open in October 2001, and will accommodate an addition of 60 employees to its existing 250-member staff. Rainin manufactures pipettes used by biology, biotechnology, and chemical companies. Architect for the project is Jordan Woodman Dobson.

Celera Diagnostics, a $300 million joint venture of Celera Genomics and Applied Biosystems, will open an industrial-scale facility to perform high-volume genotyping and gene expression research. Applied Biosystems, a manufacturer of gene sequencing hardware, is currently expanding at a building in the Hacienda Business Park in Pleasanton, Calif., where renovations will be completed around the end of fiscal 2002. Celera Genomics and Applied Biosystems are both owned by Applera.

Bio-Tech Imaging (BTI), based in Frederick, Md., has opened a 33,000-sf production plant in Shreveport. The $15 million facility will produce the company’s “Tagger”AIDS-detection kits. Currently the kits are used for private scientific research. BTI is awaiting FDA approval to extend marketing of the kits to hospitals, doctors, and blood banks. BTI hopes to occupy the plant by early 2002.