Higher Education

Rutgers University School of Business at Camden is working with the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology and the Delaware River Port Authority to create a non-profit business incubator in 20,000 sf of the former West Jersey Hospital in downtown Camden. The incubator is housed on the fifth floor of the five-building, 270,000-sf hospital complex. Former patient rooms were renovated to create 35 high-tech suites of 250 sf each which can be doubled to 500 sf.

North Carolina State University has selected Boney Architects of Wilmington, with an office in Raleigh, as project architect for the planned $9-million Friday Institute. The 32,000-sf educational research and teacher training center will be located next to the Centennial Campus Middle School in Raleigh. Groundbreaking is slated for early 2004.

Southwest Winners Foundation broke ground in early February on Southwest Preparatory School, the charter school's latest high school campus. Located on 3.5 acres, the two-story, 19,000-sf facility is expected to open in September 2003. The facility will also house administrative offices and the Virtual School, which allows students to gain high school credit via course work offered on the school's website.

Purdue University is building the 69,000-sf Dauch Alumni Center. Housing the Purdue Alumni Association and the University Development Office, the facility will also accommodate events and meetings with a banquet hall, conference rooms, and a display area. Completion is expected in time for Gala Week of 2004.

Construction is approximately 50% complete on Purdue University's Martel Forest Research Center. Sited on a 425-acre property of native forests and tree plantations, the research laboratory, two-bay greenhouse and attached head house will provide space for tree research. Housing a teaching laboratory, a conference facility, space for ten scientists and professional staff, and storage, the facility will also provide meeting space for educational programs and researcher offices. Occupancy is expected in June 2003.

Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., will renovate a classroom in the Crummer Graduate School of Business with $100,000 in funding from the Wachovia Foundation. Renamed the Wachovia Lecture Hall, the hall will be refurbished and upgraded with new technology, including advanced Internet capabilities and projection systems.

Spring Hill College has contracted UNICCO Service Company to provide facilities services at its Mobile, Ala., campus. The three-year contract covers maintenance and custodial services for 700,000 sf in 24 buildings, as well as equipment maintenance and landscaping services for the college campus.

UCSF Genentech Hall, a new biomedical research and teaching building at the University of California San Francisco's new Mission Bay campus, opened in January. Designed by the San Francisco office of SmithGroup, the new five-story, 434,000-sf facility is the first structure to be completed on the 303-acre Mission Bay campus. Once fully occupied, the building will house approximately 900 faculty, students, and staff.

The University of California, Davis, has selected the Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership as architect for the new $78-million Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.

Rockhurst University is building a $6-million, 16-acre Loyola Park athletic complex featuring a baseball stadium, six tennis courts, a soccer field, and jogging paths. The tennis facilities could open by fall 2003, with baseball practice beginning in spring 2004 and soccer in fall 2004. Rockhurst University recently received a $2.3-million gift from Tom and Jean McDonnell to help complete the project.

Johnson & Wales University broke ground on February 11 on its $82-million academic center and residence halls. The five-story, 145,000-sf facility, designed by LS3P Associates, is located in Charlotte's Gateway Village. Slated to open in fall 2004, the Charlotte campus will offer Business, Culinary Arts & Hospitality associated and bachelor's degree programs. The first floor and mezzanine levels will contain a chocolate laboratory and four bakeshops.

The Ohio State University Medical Center will initiate construction on a 44,000-sf expansion of the Comprehensive Cancer Center in February 2003. The project is a vertical expansion of  the 3rd and 4th floors on top of Wiseman Hall, creating additional space for research and supporting the growing Human Cancer Genetics programs.

Cabrini College in Radnor is constructing an $18-million science, education and technology facility. Slated for completion in January 2005, the facility will provide 3,000 sf of incubator space to be leased by a biotechnology startup. Construction of the science center is expected to begin in late 2003.

The Memphis Biotech Foundation has selected Memphis firms Hnedak Bobo Group (HBG) as program manager and TRO/The Ritchie Organization as lead architect/engineer/interior designer for the first phase of the University of Tennessee/Baptist Research Park in Memphis.

The Community College of Philadelphia recently opened the Center for Business and Industry. The $29-million, three-story center houses the College's Division of Community Services and Continuing Education Programs, which provides training programs connected with business and government agencies. In addition to classrooms, the center includes a regional ACT Testing Center.