UT Research Park Project Hopes to Boost Houston as Biotech Leader

New Research Facility Receives Funding

Gov. Rick Perry recently announced a $25 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund to attract a new Center for Advanced Diagnostic Imaging at the University of

Texas Research Park in Houston. In addition to the $25 million grant from the TEF, another $25 million was committed by M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the UT

Health Science Center at Houston. GE Healthcare is committing $30 million in equipment and personnel to the project, which will hasten the development of new commercially marketable biomedical imaging technologies.

"This joint partnership between the private and public sectors will put Texas at the forefront of medical innovations that will help us fight cancer and cardiovascular disease while creating more than 2,200 highly skilled jobs," Perry said.

In December 2001 Perry created the Council on Science and Biotechnology

Development to look at ways to create partnerships between institutions of higher learning, industry and government to promote biotechnology as an economic development tool.

"We are taking biotechnology to the next level by anchoring this effort at the Texas Medical Center," Perry said.

Curtains to Open on PAC

Cadence McShane Corp., headquartered in Rosemont, Ill., is in its final stages of construction on the 52,000 sq. ft. Performing Arts Center for Texas A&M University's Corpus Christi campus. Crews are working to complete the installation of the roofing system while panel erection was recently completed. The precast panels will accent the dramatic 50-ft. glass curtainwall overlooking Corpus Christi Bay. The project is on schedule for completion in the fall.

Indiana-based TASUS Corp., the first Toyota parts supplier to move into Central Texas, recently celebrated the groundbreaking of its Georgetown manufacturing plant. Construction on the plant is scheduled to begin this month, and the plant is expected to be operational by January.

The plastic-injection molding facility will supply parts to the new Toyota truck plant in San Antonio, which is set to open in 2006. The new plant is expected to create more than 200 jobs and bring more than $8 million to the local economy during the next five years.

Beck Group Gets Back to Nature

The Austin office of The Beck Group recently announced that the Stark Foundation has awarded pre-construction and construction services to Beck for the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange. The construction schedule, which will begin in February, is approximately 18 months for the $15 million project.

Shangri La is a unique ecosystem possessing not only wetlands, but a mixed deciduous forest, cypress tupelo swamp and a large lake that attracts ducks and migratory birds.

"We will have the opportunity to do many great things on this project that will continue to boost our LEED experience," said Kathy Zarsky, Beck's project manager. "This is a very site-sensitive project due to the wetland environments and wildlife habitat it currently maintains. We will be using 'light' construction practices and will also get
to explore the use of photovoltaic systems and renewable energy sources."

The gardens first opened to the public in 1946. After the 250-acre private reserve was heavily damaged by a hard freeze in the mid-1950s, it was closed to the public and maintained on a limited scale.

The project design team includes Mesa Design Group of Dallas, Lake Flato Architects Inc. of San Antonio and Jeffrey Carbo ASLA of Alexandria, La.

Hunt Awarded Southwest Irving Municipal Center Project

Hunt Construction Group of Scottsdale, Ariz., has been awarded the $16 million Southwest Irving Municipal Center project, which consists of a seven-building complex with more than 100,000 sq. ft. Also included will be 30 acres of paving and sitework.
Construction is underway and is scheduled for completion in February.

Baylor Medical Center Begins Construction on Office Building

Baylor Medical Center at Irving recently began construction on a 127,000 sq. ft., five-story medical office building in the heart of the hospital campus. Dallas-based MEDCO Construction is the general contractor for the $13 million building designed to meet the growing medical needs of the Irving community while allowing Baylor Irving to expand its level of service.

Because the existing offices at Baylor Irving are fully leased, the new office building will provide much needed on-campus space for its medical staff. Construction will also include an education center accommodating up to 300 people, and a skybridge to the hospital.

Located on the northwest corner of the Baylor Irving campus, the building will provide on-campus space for two of the hospital's largest group practices, HealthTexas and the Medical and Surgical Clinic of Irving. Other individual physicians offices and group practices have also committed to space in the building, with about 65 percent pre-leased. The building will be owned and developed by Nashville, Tenn.-based Healthcare Realty Trust and is scheduled to open in May 2005.