Research and Development

Vermeulens has released its market outlook report for the first quarter of 2019. Key points include:

The University of Missouri System broke ground on the $221 million NextGen Precision Health Institute in June of 2019. Located at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the five-story, 265,000-sf translational research facility will accommodate over 60 principal investigators working in collaboration with industry partners to develop innovative personalized medicine solutions.

The University of California, San Francisco opened the $275 million Precision Cancer Medicine Building (PCMB) in June of 2019. Located on UCSF's Mission Bay campus, the six-story facility consolidates outpatient services in a 170,000-sf structure with integrated cancer research labs, 63,000 sf of clinical space, 45 infusion bays, two accelerator vaults, and sophisticated imaging and diagnostic suites.

HITT Contracting opened the Co|Lab smart building research hub in June of 2019 in Falls Church, Va. Designed by William McDonough + Partners, Co|Lab is a collaborative facility for the study and testing of emerging materials, approaches, and technologies for the construction industry. The 8,600-sf project, which has attained LEED v4 Platinum certification, incorporates a Glu-lam and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) structure, as well as a roof canopy solar array that is designed to provide 118 percent of anticipated energy use.

The Harvard Allston Land Company (HALC) issued a request for proposals in June of 2019 for the development of a 14-acre parcel in Boston. HALC, the entity responsible for Harvard University's planned Enterprise Research Campus, is seeking a single partner with an integrated team of architects, engineers, construction managers, government-relations personnel, and financiers for the project. Uses planned for the area and approved by Boston’s development authority include:

Hewlett Packard (HP) opened the 3D Printing and Digital Manufacturing Center of Excellence in June of 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. Supporting leading-edge research and development in additive manufacturing, the facility provides sophisticated research labs and instrumentation suites as well as a large-scale factory environment for active collaboration with customers and industry partners.

Butler University will begin construction in summer of 2019 on a $100 million renovation and expansion project to upgrade its science facilities in Indianapolis. The first phase of construction comprises a connecting structure joining the Holcomb building to Gallahue Hall.

Northwestern University opened the $560 million Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey Biomedical Research Center in Chicago in June of 2019. Designed by Perkins+Will, the 12-story, 625,000-sf facility provides the Feinberg School of Medicine with integrated laboratory neighborhoods for the study of cancer, heart disease, and neurodegenerative disorders.

The U.S. Air Force broke ground in June of 2019 on the $12.8 million Space Control Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. The 26,000-sf facility will enable the Air Force Research Laboratory to consolidate operations currently sited in six disparate locations at the site.

Boston College will begin construction in fall of 2019 on the $150 million Integrated Science Building in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Designed by Payette, the five-story, 156,500-sf facility will house the school’s new engineering and computer science departments as well as accommodating the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society.

Aldevron will begin construction in August of 2019 on a 14-acre biologics campus in Fargo, N.D., where it is currently headquartered. The first phase comprises a two-story, 189,000-sf facility for the manufacture of plasmid DNA, proteins, mRNA, and antibodies. Increasing Aldevron’s GMP and GMP-Source™ production capacity up to tenfold, the structure will connect to the company's existing GMP facility and is expected to be fully operational by early 2021.

With demand for human donor organs historically and increasingly outpacing the available, viable supply, researchers and physicians have looked for decades at xenotransplantation—cross-species transplantation—as a possible vehicle to overcome the problem. The traditional approach to xenotransplantation, however, is an “impediment to moving transplantation forward,” asserts Karl Kraebber, director of xenotransplantation operations at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. His team believes the solution isn’t in expensive and time-consuming renovation of existing buildings. “Our more novel approach is for flexible, modular spaces, to be used for small pilot trials and then scaled up once we have partnership with our governing agencies,” he says. “We’ll take ‘fast and good’ over ‘slow and perfect’ every time. It doesn’t mean we’re cutting corners.”

The Wistar Institute is partnering with University Place Associates to construct a 240,000-sf life science discovery hub in the University City district of Philadelphia. Designed to accelerate innovation by providing shared resources and critical infrastructure, the collaborative project will provide leasable laboratories and offices for biotech firms, research companies, and academic institutions.

WuXi Biologics began construction in May of 2019 on a $365 million pharmaceutical production facility in Dundalk, Ireland. Sited on 52 acres, the 522,000-sf contract manufacturing center will utilize single-use technologies and processes, enabling cost-effective scale-out and the simultaneous production of multiple batches of varying volumes. Commercial operations are expected to begin in 2022 at the site, which will be the company's first manufacturing plant outside of China.

Hackensack Meridian Health opened the Center for Discovery and Innovation in May of 2019 in Nutley, N.J. Located on the ON3 campus adjacent to Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the 250,000-sf translational research facility will accelerate the creation of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, dementia, antibiotic-resistant infections, and autoimmune disorders. The center houses the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Institute for Multiple Myeloma, and the Institute for Cancer and Infectious Disease.