Great Lakes Region Springs into Second-Quarter 2015 with $1.5 Billion in New Life-Science Project Kick-Offs

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The life-science sector continues to invest heavily in facility construction and upgrades in the U.S. Great Lakes region. The region is on track to launch 26 projects with a total investment value (TIV) of $1.5 billion during the second quarter of 2015. This represents a respectable 54% increase over the same time frame in 2014, when 19 projects worth $962 million began construction.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing second-quarter 2015 life-science project starts in the Great Lakes region.

Encompassing Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, the Great Lakes region is home to more than 400 operational facilities, ranging from elaborate higher-education research centers to biologic contract manufacturers (CMOs). Employing nearly 5,000 people in the region, the industry is an attractive target for economic development with a higher-than-average pay scale of $60,000 per year.

Illinois leads the pack for the region, with $607 million worth of projects set to begin, divided among just six projects. The state is anticipating the start of Northwestern University's (Evanston, Illinois) $500 million investment in the Feinberg School of Medicine Biomedical Research Center. Designed by Perkins + Will (Chicago, Illinois), the construction of a 600,000-square-foot building will be the first phase of a total build-out of 1.2 million square feet of biomedical research space. After years of planning and design changes, barring any major obstacles, the project will begin construction next year. Other team members include Affiliated Engineers (Madison, Wisconsin) and Thornton Tomasetti (Chicago).

Ohio snared second place in regional spending, with just three projects valued at $458 million. The crown jewel of the three is Procter & Gamble's (NYSE:PG) (Cincinnati, Ohio) decision to construct a $350 million Beauty Innovation Center in Mason, Ohio. The massive, 500,000-square-foot facility will consolidate and expand research and pilot-scale manufacturing serving the company's hair care, skin care and other personal care and grooming lines. Construction is to launch in May.

The remaining second-quarter projects are scattered throughout the other states in the region. Obviously, not all are in the nine-figure investment range, with some carrying a TIV of $1 million for scheduled maintenance programs. The average project TIV for the region is a healthy $57.6 million, with a large number somewhere in the middle.

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