Higher Education

Meredith College, a four-year private women's college, has selected Boston-based Shepley Richardson and Abbott to develop a master plan for its Raleigh campus.

The University of Phoenix, a subsidiary of Phoenix-based Apollo Group Inc., will relocate its Atlanta campus to a permanent North Fulton County location on April 19th. The new 26,000-sf facility is comprised of 16 classrooms, each accommodating 25 students. The school holds classes in the evenings Monday through Thursday. 

Goucher College of Towson, Md., has completed construction of a new 21,000-sf residence hall, as well as expansion and renovation and of the 74,350-sf Heubeck Hall. Both projects were designed and built by the Boston offices of Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering.

Washington University's Small Group Housing project was recently completed by McCarthy. The $44-million fast track project, designed by architect Mackey Mitchell Associates of St. Louis, totals 218,000 sf in four separate buildings. Included in the structures are 440 beds, dining and food service facilities for 600, classroom areas and a great hall containing extensive millwork. Construction was completed in 14 months.

Having received approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Suffolk University will begin building a new 386-bed dormitory adjacent to its Beacon Hill campus in late spring of 2002. 

Brown University of Rhode Island selected Hopkinton, Mass.-based Gorman Richardson Architects to design several projects on the school's Bio-Medical Campus.

The University of California-Davis is building the new Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, a $60.9-million facility named in honor of the Napa Valley vintner who targeted $10 million for the center. State-of-the-art technology and acoustics are built into the 1,800-seat performance hall and 250-seat studio theater. Portland, Ore.-based BOORA Architects designed the 104,000-sf center, which is scheduled to open in October 2002.

Rowan University is in the planning stage of developing the new South Jersey Technology Park. The park will include a technology incubator as well as a major research center to build on the University's extensive research capabilities. Costing between $10-million and $20-million to build, the facility is expected to open in the next 18 months to 2 years.

Rutgers University School of Business is planning the new Rutgers-Camden High-Tech Business Incubator/Commercialization Center. The "virtual incubator", under the auspices of the William G. Rohrer Center for Management and Entrepreneurship, will provide computer services, high-speed Internet access, conference space, and telephone assistance to fledgling technology companies. The incubator is being developed and funded by a $435,000 contract with the Delaware River Port Authority.

The University of Texas at San Antonio recently broke ground on the new Institute for Economic Development headquarters in downtown San Antonio. Designed by Ford, Powell & Carson Architects & Planners, the 33,000-sf facility will house the Institute's 90 employees. Funding for the $6.4-million facility was completed by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration's award of $1.75 million to the University. Tuition revenue bonds will cover the balance of the funds.

The University of Colorado at Boulder (UC-B) has selected VFA, a provider of Web-based facilities and capital asset management solutions and software, to perform a detailed facility condition assessment, provide in-the-field training on VFA's assessment methodology, and deliver VFA.facility, the central Web-based platform of VFA's capital planning and management solutions (CPMS) tools.

Design of Xaverian Brothers High School's new library and IT center was recently completed by Flansburgh Associates Inc. of Boston. Located on the high school's Westwood campus, the two-story, 17,000-sf expansion is connected by a double-height lobby to the existing 1960's school building.  The expansion is the centerpiece of a $10-million campus-wide plan that includes updated classrooms and science labs, renovated and expanded athletic facilities and a new administrative suite.

South Texas Medical Center has planned $136 million in capital projects for the current year, with projects totalling $165 million planned for the next five years. Ground was broken on the Children's Cancer Research Center, a $50-million facility providing space for up to 18 principal researchers and their staff. The Children's Cancer Center is part of a $67-million development at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, which will also include an academic administration and student services facility.

Montgomery College in Rockville has selected architectural firm Einhorn Yaffee Prescott to develop a master plan for its Germantown, Rockville, and Takoma Park campuses. The plan will integrate factors such as current land holdings, increased enrollment, and growth options for the fields of science and biotechnology.

Duke University has selected contractors Beacon Skanska and Beers Skanska of Raleigh, N.C., to build the $30-million West Edens Link Dormitories. The 120,000-sf project, designed by Philadelphia-based Kieran Timberlane & Harris, is slated for completion in July of 2002.