Biotechnology

The University of Connecticut has purchased the 113,000-sf FarmTech building in Farmington and will spend $35-million to renovate it as a Center of Innovation for stem cell, genetics, and bioengineering research. Sited on 24 acres, the cross-disciplinary, collaborative facility will house wet and dry laboratories, business incubator space, classrooms, and the University’s human embryonic stem cell core laboratory. Sustainable design features of the building will include heat recovery systems and gray water recycling. The Center of Innovation is expected to open in 2009.

Elan Corp. is planning the $100-million construction of two buildings in South San Francisco. Totaling 185,000 sf, the three-story facilities will be owned by developer Chamberlin Associates and leased by Elan, enabling the pharmaceutical firm to hire an additional 500 employees. The project is being designed by Dowler-Gruman Architects. 

The City of New York is partnering with Alexandria Real Estate Equities of Pasadena, Calif., to develop the 1.1 million-sf East River Science Park. Groundbreaking will commence in early 2007 on the $700-million mixed-use life science campus sited on 3.5 acres in Manhattan. The first 670,000-sf phase of the project will consist of two towers, the first housing laboratory, office, and conference space; the second tower will house laboratory and office space over ground-level retail.

The University of Florida opened the 280,000-sf Cancer & Genetics Research Complex in Gainesville in late fall of 2006. The $84.5 million facility contains a five-story research wing of the UF Shands Cancer Center and a six-story Genetics Institute wing. The building also houses the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research and a forensic anthropology lab, the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory.

The University of Queensland opened the $70-million Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) in Brisbane on Oct. 23, 2006. Located on the school's St. Lucia campus, the six-level facility will accommodate research combining the biological, physical, and chemical sciences. Housing over 250 staff and students with a maximum capacity of 350, the center houses state-of-the-art microfabrication facilities, a GMP-ready bioprocessing facility, world-class microscopy facilities, and advanced data storage and visualization capabilities. 

Texas Southern University has completed its new 165,000-sf Science Center. The four-story, $30-million facility features a full-height atrium and biology research and teaching labs for faculty and graduate students. The center also houses space for chemistry, mathematics, the Environmental Toxicology Ph.D. Program, and the NASA Research Center for Biotechnology and Environmental Health. Texas Southern is also constructing a $15-million, 82,000-sf Public Affairs, Liberal Arts, and Behavioral Sciences building.

UC Berkeley will open the $162-million Stanley Hall in January of 2007. The 285,000-sf biosciences and bioengineering facility will house approximately 40 research labs, administrative and bioengineering department offices, and up to 10 core facilities. One of these core facilities, the 11,000-sf Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center, will manufacture chips for biochemical and medical applications. Stanley Hall will serve over 30 faculty and over 100 graduate students and is designed to foster multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Genentech is planning to add 2.5 million sf of space to its South San Francisco footprint over the next ten years. More than doubling the company's occupied space in the city, Genentech's ten-year master plan details the campus of the future as a 6 million-sf network of pedestrian-friendly sites with up to 16 new buildings. Office and laboratory space will comprise 50 percent of the expansion and will account for 33 percent of the new construction. The six-building West Campus will house a majority of the new development.

The State University of New York (SUNY) has selected The S/L/A/M Collaborative to design three new science projects. At SUNY Buffalo, the 145,000-sf Acheson Hall will be renovated to provide a new home for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences on the South Campus. The former chemistry building will be completely gutted and renovated to provide new classroom and biotech research space in a LEED® certified facility.

Nexus Properties is constructing the 141,157-sf University City Science Center in La Jolla, Calif. The two buildings comprise 50,925 sf and 90,232 sf and will accommodate biotechnology and R&D companies. The two-story project was designed by Pacific Cornerstone Architects and is slated for completion in late 2007. Staples Construction Company is the general contractor with CB Richard Ellis as leasing manager.

Wake Forest University has dedicated its new $72-million Biotechnology Research Facility 1 (BRF1), the sixth building at the Piedmont Triad Research Park which is located on 240 acres in downtown Winston-Salem, N.C. The University's Institute for Regenerative Medicine along with the Lipid Sciences Research Group will both be housed in offices and labs in the five-story, 187,000-sf structure, which commenced construction a little over two years ago. Architect for the project was O'Brien Atkins; Shelco Inc. was the builder.

Wake Forest University and industry partners celebrated the grand opening of the 189,000-sf Biotechnology Research Facility 1 in Winston-Salem's Piedmont Triad Research Park in May of 2006. The five-story, $60-million facility will house space for private companies and academic space for Wake Forest Health Sciences' Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Lipid Sciences program.   

Genzyme celebrated the topping-off of its new 177,000-sf laboratory and administrative facility in Framingham, Mass., in April 2006. The state-of-the-art building, designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge with construction management by Bovis Lend Lease, will consolidate Genzyme scientists from a number of different locations when it opens in the third quarter of 2007.

South San Francisco-based Genentech will construct a $250-million, 150,000-sf therapeutics filling and packaging facility on a 100-acre site in Hillsboro, Ore. The project will break ground in mid-2006 and reach completion by 2008; with U.S. FDA licensing, operations will commence by 2010. Genentech is also expanding its existing 427,000-sf Vacaville, Calif., manufacturing facility with the addition of 380,000 sf of production and fermentation space.

Biotech giant Amgen will expand its South San Francisco campus with the addition of 500,000 sf of R&D space over the next three years. The first 92,000-sf facility is under construction; a second 92,000-sf structure will break ground in spring of 2006. The two buildings will house up to 700 employees total. Amgen also has an option to occupy three new adjacent buildings, yet to be constructed, with footprints of 100,000 sf each.