Grand Rapids Grows Life Science Profile with $175 Million Van Andel Institute Expansion

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With basic structural construction complete in October, the Van Andel Institute (VAI) (Grand Rapids, Michigan) held a topping-off ceremony for a new 240,000-square-foot research building. The $175 million project will more than double existing VAI research space. As reported in Industrial Info Resource's Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database, the project began construction in spring of 2007 and is expected to be complete in late 2009.

Designed by New York's Rafael Vinoly Architects, the eight-story building is being constructed under a joint venture agreement between the Owen-Ames-Kimball Company of Grand Rapids and The Hunt Construction Group (Indianapolis, Indiana). RFD (San Diego, California) is the building's laboratory design consultant.

With space for up to 500 new industry jobs, the facility will also allow VAI to expand into neurological research, with an entire lab dedicated to Parkinson's disease research. In addition to the neurological and translational research laboratories, space will be provided for the Van Andel Graduate School and Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine

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