Higher Education

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.

Southwest Texas State University (SWT) is partnering with the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas Dallas and Rice University to create the Strategic Partnership for Nanotechnology (SPRING). The three schools plan to develop or update their nanotechnology facilities by securing funding from federal and private grants. SWT San Marcos is planning the Nanotechnology Failure Analysis, Materials, Evaluation and Education Center (NanoFAME).

Clayton County Public Schools are planning the Open Campus High School, a "high-tech high school" featuring the Magnet Technical Center. The new school will be built on the athletic training field at Jonesboro Middle School. The middle school will be renovated for the new high school. Slated to begin construction in 2004, the initial building, designed by Griffin, Ga.-based Manely Spangler Smith Architects P.C.,  is a 100,000-sf expandable facility that will house classes for students from eight other county high schools.

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is building a center for computer network security, the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS). The CIAS will receive $5 million in federal funding in the next three years, which will move forward several projects including  development of lab facilities at UTSA's Loop 1604 campus and at Lackland AFB.  

The Robert F. Lucey Center for Technology and Training's dedication ceremony was recently celebrated at Dean College in Franklin. Created to provide regional employers with technology training solutions, the Center was designed by Cambridge-based Bruner Cott & Associates. 

The Medical University of South Carolina has awarded NBBJ Architects the architectural design contract for its Clinical Facilities master plan.

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.