Higher Education

Kennesaw State University's Coles College of Business opened the Center for Professional Selling last fall after over two years of planning. Funded by $250,000 in corporate commitments, the Center is nearing completion and will include a conference room, state-of-the-art sales labs, and offices for student role-playing. Technologies will include training tools such as digital video cameras to capture practice sales pitches, which could be viewed by prospective employers on the Internet.

 North Carolina State University is planning a $65-million, 250-room hotel, conference center and golf course at its Centennial Campus to enhance research and academic programs at the University. The school has filed papers to form a charitable organization, the N.C. State Conference Center LLC, which would enable the center to operate free of state and federal income taxes. Hines Interests of Chicago is providing construction consultation on the project, which is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2004.

Emory University has opened the new $81.3-million Whitehead Biomedical Research Building, an eight-floor structure housing 150 faculty offices and 150 labs in an open-lab design equipped with advanced automated and robotic equipment for rapid DNA analysis. A below-ground 50,000-sf facility houses rodent research. The new 325,000-sf research building accommodates the Center for Medical Genomics, the Neurodegenerative Disease Center, and Emory’s departments of cell biology, and human genetics and physiology.

The Pennsylvania State University has selected Gilbane Building Company as program/construction manager for preconstruction services for five buildings on the State College campus. The new complex includes the Mary Jean and Frank P. Smeal College of Business Administration (210,000 sf); two new buildings for the College of Agricultural Sciences: the food science department (112,000 sf) and the School of Forest Resources (84,000 sf); a 1,200-car parking deck; and a 3,000-ton chiller.

The Harvard Institutes of Medicine in collaboration with Lyme Properties LLC is proposing the construction of the Blackfan Research Center—a  400,000-sf biomedical research facility for academic research institutions in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area. The 18-story structure would accommodate 280,000 sf of lab space for research and 120,000 sf of office space, and provide below-ground parking for 300 vehicles. Pending permit approvals by the end of 2002, Lyme hopes to begin construction by mid-2003, with completion in 2005.

The University of Kentucky has selected Gilman Building Co. of Columbus, Ohio, as construction manager for its new $67.2-million, 185,000-sf Biomedical/Biological Sciences Research Building. The new building, with four floors of research space and a basement, will serve as a facility for collaboration in research and graduate education in biological chemistry, genetics, molecular biology, neuroscience, vaccine development, host resistance, and related fields.

Ground has been broken on Guilford Technical Community College's 66,000-sf School of Entertainment Technology. Funded by state bond money, the $92.5 million building will include an amphitheater and sound studios.

Plainview, Texas-based Wayland Baptist University System is planning to add 319,000 sf of classroom and administrative space to its Wayland-San Antonio campus. The multimillion-dollar project will be housed on 26 acres of recently purchased land; with the additional acres, Wayland owns a total of 32.5 acres at the site. Construction on the five-building, 1,395-parking space development will probably not begin for another five years.

Andrews University broke ground in March 2002 for the new Howard Performing Arts Center. The $10.5-million, 44,000-sf building provides rehearsal, recording, and performance facilities for the University’s orchestra, symphony, and chorus as well as shelled space for WAUS radio station in the future. The Andrews University School of Music, community groups, and traveling performers will utilize the 230-person capacity stage. Audience seating will accommodate approximately 800 people. Architect and engineer for the project is HarleyEllis of Detroit. Fiskars of St.

Drexel University’s Bennett S. LeBow College of Business is expanding with the new Leonard Pearlstein Business Learning Center, now under construction. When it opens in fall of 2002, the $15-million structure will connect to LeBow’s main building, and will accommodate seminar rooms designed like boardrooms, offices, computer labs, and study rooms. Architect for the project is Philip Johnson.

Temple University City Center has relocated to a new six-story, 126,866-sf, state-of-the-art building in the center of downtown Philadelphia’s business district, a public transportation-friendly location. The $11.1-million structure, approximately 35,000 sf larger than the previous facility, is equipped with “smart carts” for overhead presentations, lounges on every floor, and views from every classroom. Temple’s Fox School of Business, the Real Estate Institute, and a new criminal justice institute will all be located at the new campus.

The University of California is making plans for a new 60,000-sf office building adjacent to the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The University’s Board of Regents is seeking a developer to design, build, finance, and maintain the building. Construction is slated to begin in 2003, targeting May 2005 for occupancy.

Mt. Holyoke College is designing its new science center and Blanchard Student Center renovation to comply with strict national green design standards. With both buildings certified to meet the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, these sustainable design buildings are part of 53,000,000 sf of commercial, residential, retail and government space that has been built to U.S. Green Building Council standards since the LEED certification program began two years ago.

Yale University School of Medicine selected Boston-based Jung/Brannen Associates Inc. to design a new 28,400-sf research facility. The lab will occupy half of the second floor of the 300 George Biotech Laboratory Building.

The Northside Independent School District (NISD) has selected PBK Architects Inc. of Houston to design a new high school on 75 acres in the Westover Hills. The $51-million, 350,000-sf school is slated to be ready for the 2005-2006 academic year with construction to begin in spring of 2003. The new campus was approved to relieve overcrowding at local high schools.