Higher Education

A&T State University is renovating and expanding the genetics laboratories on its Greensboro, N.C. campus. The renovation is part of an initiative to establish a “center of excellence” to research the impact of genetics on African-Americans who contract hypertension, Alzheimer’s, and AIDS. The project is funded by a $4.6 million federal grant from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.

The University of California Davis will complete construction of the Genome Center in summer of 2004. The center will occupy 52,000 sf in a new 211,000-sf research building and will accommodate 17 faculty members.

Richardson Regional Medical Center is partnering with University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas to create a 50,000-sf comprehensive cancer center in Richardson, Texas. Sited on Richardson Regional’s George Bush/Renner Campus, the $20-million facility is slated for completion in late 2005.

Bryant & Stratton College will open its new Orchard Park, N.Y., campus in September 2004. The campus will comprise 27,000 sf of the 32,000-sf facility, with the business college’s online division in the remaining 5,000 sf. Featuring four computer labs, ten lecture rooms, a medical lab, and a library learning center, the campus will replace Bryant & Stratton’s Lackawanna site.

The University of Oregon College of Education is planning to construct the Hedco Education building in Eugene, Ore. The 100,000-sf facility will accommodate teaching and research space featuring areas for developing instructional assessment tools, designing curriculum, and demonstrating leading edge math and science teaching methods. Housing a teaching performance studio and an integrated professional training clinic, the building will also provide community services in counseling and speech-hearing-language disorders.

Lawson State Community College broke ground in March 2004 on a $7.8-million technology center at its Birmingham, Ala., campus. Project contractor McCrory Building Co. is building the three-story, 63,000-sf facility which will house the Emerging Technologies Program of the Alabama Center for Advanced Technology and Training. Industry partners including Novell, BellSouth, and Microsoft will provide students with advanced technological training through the program. The facility, slated for completion by July 2005, was designed by McCauley Associates and Exford, LLC.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center will begin construction of a $110-million medical research facility called MRB IV on its Nashville, Tenn., campus in May 2004. Adding 200,000 sf of research space, the project will add three research floors on top of Light Hall and five research floors and two vivarium floors above Langford Auditorium. Connecting the two buildings, MRB IV features a total of 86 lab modules, a glass atrium spanning several floors, and conference space. Completion is slated for summer of 2006.

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center is constructing a $60-million integrated ophthalmology center for the Hamilton Eye Institute at its Memphis campus. Combining research, academic, clinic, and surgery space, the facility will develop advanced treatments for the management of ocular diseases and complex vision problems.

Stanford University Hospital opened its new $147-million outpatient cancer center on March 1, 2004. More than doubling Stanford’s previous outpatient cancer footprint, the 165,000-sf center features 47 faculty offices, a PET/CT scanner with 3-D imaging capabilities, an increase from 37 to 57 chemotherapy stations, and more space for clinical trials.

The University of Florida will fund the renovation of one of two buildings purchased as the home for the Center of Excellence for Regenerative Health Biotechnology with a $2 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Commission. The center, sited in the Progress Corporate Park in Alachua, Fla., will focus on the transformation of laboratory discoveries into medicines suitable for clinical trials.   

N.C. State University will construct the 122,000-sf Randall B. Terry Jr. Companion Animal Veterinary Medical Center on the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Raleigh campus. Slated for completion in 2009, the $35-million veterinary teaching hospital will offer veterinary diagnostics and therapeutics.

Clark University has selected Consigli Construction of Milford to build a $15-million, 50,000-sf science building on its Worcester, Mass., campus.

Florida Atlantic University has selected Boca Raton-based Kaufman Lynn General Contractors to build the $2.4-million first phase of the Louis and Anne Green Alzheimer’s Research Center and Care Facility in Boca Raton. Designed by Saltz Michelson Architects of West Palm Beach, the building will house the gerontological research program, the memory and wellness program, and the college of nursing’s Alzheimer’s-related teaching and outreach programs.

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas will construct the Cecil H. and Ida Green Comprehensive Center for Molecular, Computational and Systems Biology with a $12.9 million donation from the Cecil and Ida Green Foundation. Featuring the latest tools in computer science, engineering, and imaging technology, the center will link basic research on molecules and cells with analysis of the function of whole biological systems.

Harrisburg University worked with architects Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates to create the master plan for an 18-acre campus in downtown Harrisburg, Pa. Construction will begin on the first administrative building in May 2006. Student housing and a business incubator will be developed in 2007. Residential buildings with retail space will be constructed in 2009, as will the remaining research area. Construction of more educational space, student housing, a 300-car and 800-car parking garage, and a corporate center will follow.