Classes and Construction Cranes Now in Session: $15.6 Billion of Construction for Laboratory Projects Occurring on North American Campuses

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--College campuses across North America are preparing for the annual influx of students as another school year begins. In addition to the dorms and lecture halls, students will be met by construction cranes and crews, all busy building new laboratory facilities totaling $15.6 billion. A recent survey of Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database has revealed that 188 projects are currently under construction on North American college and university campuses.

Click on image at right for a regional breakdown of Pharma & Biotech projects currently under construction on North American college and university campuses.

With an average total investment value (TIV) of $83 million, it becomes quite obvious that schools large and small find funding these types of capital projects very important. Often taking years to plan--sometimes taking a decade between concept and construction--a large portion of these projects are being given the green light. In those cases where state budgets are being tightened, a number of schools are actively seeking and successfully landing private financing.

The saying goes that "the rich are different from you and me," and the truth in this statement is evidenced by the number of construction donations to universities. Despite the economic meltdown, considerable fortunes have remained sufficiently intact to allow a generous amount of construction-fund dollars to flow from said deep pockets. In turn, the benevolence is often repaid with the donor's name gracing the new building. One stunning example of philanthropy translating into construction was Lorry Lokey's $75 million gift to California's Stanford University in support of a stem cell laboratory. Lokey, the founder of Business Wire, originally pledged $33 million in 2007 and arrived at the $75 million figure last year. The Lorry Lokey Stem Cell Research Building is currently under construction and expected to be complete in 2010. At the opposite end of the continent, construction is currently under way on the $160 million Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantam-Nano Centre in Waterloo, Ontario. The Lazaridis family earned the naming honor thanks to donations totaling more than $100 million, with a major portion of the money directed specifically for construction of the new building.

An August 2009 analysis of all active capital Pharmaceutical & Biotech projects in North America--994 projects with a combined TIV of $53.4 billion--revealed that 358, or 36%, were sourced from the public sector, with all including some amount of wet lab space. This amounts to $28 billion worth of active Life Science projects in North America sourced from colleges, universities, institutes and government agencies. Moving beyond the typical research component, schools are frequently implementing curriculums targeting the industry, spanning all aspects from construction to production, knowing that in today's marketplace, a surfeit of intellectual capacity coupled with trained labor is an important consideration in the site-selection process of commercial pharma-biotech facility construction.

The scope of each of the 188 projects under construction varies widely and only serves to underscore how schools of all sizes are anxious to make the grade in the industry, so to speak. At one end of the dollar scale is the Purdue Research Foundation's (Merrillville, Indiana) $2.5 million investment to expand a business incubator. When complete later this year, the 12,000 square-foot expansion will offer multiple new businesses affordable commercial wet lab and office space. Holladay Properties (Portage, Indiana) and its Holladay Construction division are building the project, which began construction in May.

On an entirely different plane, Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, New York) has just started construction of a massive $700 million biomedical research building in Manhattan. Designed by New York's Polshek Partnership, the building's construction is being handled by Tishman Construction (New York, New York). Scheduled for completion in 2014, the 16-story, 500,000 square-foot project is located on East 69th Street at York and like an increasing number of these projects, will focus on translational research. For another example, see article from July 31, 2009 - Patients and Research are Brought Together at Penn State's New $121 Million Hershey Cancer Institute.

Considering the project data on a regional basis in strictly financial terms, the Northeast is in the top spot with $2.9 billion divided over a 20 construction projects. The aforementioned Cornell project was a major component in pushing the Northeast region to number one. The $400 million Collaborative Research Center at the Rockefeller University in Manhattan was also a factor. Mitchell/Giurgola Architects LLP (New York) is the lead architect for the multi-faceted project, which includes the construction of an eight-story building and the renovation of two existing facilities. Turner Construction's New York office was awarded the construction management contract for the project.

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