What Does $3.2 Billion Buy? Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry Wraps Up Construction on 71 North American Projects

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Theories abound regarding the Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry, and the only fact that has emerged is it has changed and continues to do so. No construction, abundant construction, consolidation, expansion; oddly enough, all apply to this industry in transition. Sometimes, it helps to only deal with concrete facts, as in the construction concrete poured to build the 71 projects that wrapped up construction during the first quarter in North America.

Click on image at right for a breakdown by market region of North American Pharma-Biotech projects completed in 1Q12.

Lacking a reliable crystal ball, the recent past can be a reliable indicator of the future. Major investments in a site running several hundred millions of dollars bode well for continued spending. The term "major" becomes relative, as smaller companies carefully consider their own seven-figure projects before proceeding with construction investment. A sampling of the quarter's projects perfectly illustrates the variances of purpose that define the industry.

In and of itself, Oregon Health Sciences University's project to build a $40 million, 130,000-square-foot Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, while newsworthy, would have not merited a lot of attention outside of Oregon. However, thanks to a great incentive package, anyone from Oregon who wants to visit will have a long commute since it was built in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (Tampa, Florida) served as the project's construction manager, and Core Communities (Port Saint Lucie, Florida) served as developer.

Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CBST) (Lexington, Massachusetts) wrapped up construction on a $40 million, 100,000-square-foot addition to an existing facility in Lexington, Massachusetts. Olson, Lewis, Dioli & Doktor Architects Incorporated (Manchester, Massachusetts) designed the project so that at least 50% of the new space will be dedicated to drug research and development. The new space will house medicinal chemistry, crystallography, high-throughput purification, downstream processing and formulation, toxicology and discovery biology. Cubist's therapeutic focus is the development of drugs to battle serious infections that arise in hospitals and other acute care environments, including the dreaded "super bug," MRSA. The Richmond Group (Hopkinton, Massachusetts) was the construction manager.

In San Marcos, Texas, Grifols USA (NASDAQ:GRFS), a division of Spain's Grifols S.A., completed a $15 million, 80,000-square-foot blood plasma testing facility. Steed Construction (Eagle, Idaho) built the new facility and Habitec (Boise, Idaho) designed it. Future plans for the site call for the possible construction of a $61 million fractionation plant for the production of plasma-derived medicines.

Lancaster, South Carolina, was the spot for Nutramax Laboratories to invest $10.5 million to expand its manufacturing operations. The company bought the ZF Lemferder building in Lancaster, with plans to relocate headquarters and expand production of both consumer products and veterinary science developments operations. Project team members included AME Incorporated (Fort Mill, South Carolina), which is construction manager, and Charlotte's Compass Development.

Another $10 million went to the construction of an autoinjector plant in Deerfield Beach, Florida. SHL-Medical USA (Florham Park, New Jersey) renovated an existing 45,000-square-foot building for the final assembly and packaging of autoinjectors and other drug delivery systems. Turner Construction (Miami, Florida) headed up the construction activities at the site.

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