Animal Research

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has topped out its new $221.9-million George and Cynthia Mitchell Basic Sciences Research Building. Slated for completion and initial occupancy in November, the 18-story, 500,000-sf facility is expected to be fully operational in June 2004. Located in Houston's Texas Medical Center, the building will house six floors of research laboratories, an auditorium, conference facilities, small-animal vivariums, and classrooms for the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.

The California Department of Health Services is nearing completion of its Richmond, Calif., complex. Construction manager McCarthy has guided the project's two phases, totaling more than 475,000-sf of offices, life sciences laboratories, animal facilities and warehousing space. The largest non-design-build project ever undertaken by the State of California, the $130-million project completes in January 2003 after a 4-year construction schedule.

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.

Biosquare, a $650-million biotech development, is under construction in Boston. Boston University and Boston University Medical Center are the developers of the project, which is being built in two phases. Phase one  encompasses 1.2 million sf of space including 60,000 sf of space for animal testing, an in-house incinerator, and a 1,000-car parking garage. Phase one is nearing completion. Phase two will provide 1.3 million additional sf of space for labs and offices, a 240-room hotel, and an a 1,200-car parking garage.