Head of Class: Top 10 University Life Science Projects Soar to Nearly $2 Billion for 2012

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Continuing a decade-long trend that continues despite the harsh economic climate, North American universities and colleges are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to beef up life science research infrastructures. These construction projects vary widely in total investment value (TIV). A recent survey of all reported university-sourced capital projects found in Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database shows that the top 10 projects scheduled to begin construction during 2012 are valued at $1.8 billion.

To be sure, the momentum of recent past has abated a bit as state budgets across the country have bit the dust. Despite the belt-tightening, virtually every capital plan sent up for approval to the respective governing boards includes at least one sizeable life science project to add research capacity. In instances where the state cannot find room in its budget for these projects, a number of schools are seeking private financing to get the research facilities built. The financial impact of these university projects becomes evident even when just considering the top 10 projects for the year. In the case of 2012, each project carries an Ivy League-worthy average TIV of $180 million.

Beyond the top 10, reported university-based construction projects range in TIV from several million dollars to update or create wet lab space in an existing building to pricy monolithic research centers encompassing multiple buildings filled with a vast array of state-of-the-art equipment. Construction and equipment costs can sometimes approach $1,000 per square foot for sections of these new structures.

All of the referenced projects were due to begin construction during 2012 and, with only scant weeks left to the year, the majority are already under way. Thus far, the largest of the 2012 university projects is the $275 million invested by George Washington University in Washington, D.C. to construct the Science and Engineering Complex. Designed by Kickock Cole Architects (Washington, D.C.), the eight-story, 480,000-square-foot building will feature nearly 300,000 square feet of research space. Clark Construction Group LLC (Bethesda, Maryland) is overseeing construction of the project, with a targeted completion date of early 2015.

A look at the opposite end of the country shows the second-largest project, the University of California San Diego's $269 million Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI). Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP (Los Angeles, California) designed the 300,000-square-foot building to LEED-silver standards. Rudolph and Sletton (Redwood City, California) is serving as construction manager for the building, which will serve to both consolidate and expand interdisciplinary clinical and translational research operations.

Houston, Texas, rounds out the top three with the $255 million Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Building for Personalized Cancer, which is now rising on the University of Texas M.D. Anderson campus. With plans dating back to 2004, the project has undergone a number of variations, finally emerging as a 12-story, 600,000-square-foot building featuring two research wings, two administrative wings and a central interdisciplinary research collaboration area. HDR (Houston, Texas) designed the project and Houston's Vaughn Construction is building it.

The diversified mapping of the remaining sites illustrates just how pervasive this sector is in terms of location. All project data discussed is drawn from a recent analysis of current reports monitored by Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker.

The sector did take a dip for 2012 when compared to the 2011 figure of $2.7 billion. However, when analyzing the figures it is important to remember that public projects of this magnitude are usually many years, if not decades, in the planning. The top 10 university projects for 2011 represented a whopping $2.7 billion capital investment. That figure translates to a $270 million project average. The start of several mega-projects helped boost the numbers, including the build-out of the City University of New York's (CUNY) $706 million Advanced Science Research Center in New York, New York. On the West Coast, Portland State University began construction last year of the $295 million Life Science Collaborative Complex.

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