Real Estate Roundup

$127M Laboratory Built For Stem Cell Research

Project developers Lankford & Associates Inc. and Phelps Development announced the completion of the 150,700-square-foot biomedical research laboratory housing the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, at 2880 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive. 

The nonprofit SCRM is a consortium of five local leaders in life sciences research: the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, The Scripps Research Institute, the Sanford/Burnham Medical Research Institute, UC San Diego, and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. The facility will serve as the hub of San Diego’s stem cell research community.

The four-story, cast-in-place concrete structure, with adjoining one-story conference center was designed as a “collaboratory” to stimulate creative approaches to complex medical problems between biologists, physicians, engineers, physicists, chemists, computer scientists and ethicists.

Designed by Fentress Architects of Denver, in association with Davis Davis Architects of San Diego and Jacobs Consultancy, the SCRM building features the latest innovations in research and sustainability, while honoring the world-renowned modern aesthetics of the adjacent Salk Institute.  

Other major members of the development team include general contractor Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of San Diego; engineering firms Hope Engineering and Project Design Consultants and Exp, all of San Diego; and landscape architect Civitas Inc.of Denver.   

The collaboratory includes offices, open labs and specialized lab cores with advanced imaging, state-of-the-art robotics, and protein and nucleic acid analysis facilities.  A number of cantilevered office pods offer views of the Torrey Pines Gliderport, golf course and Pacific Ocean. Two-story break rooms interconnect on all floors, encouraging collegiality and unplanned “creative collisions” among researchers from various disciplines.

The adjoining conference center, accessible from the main lobby, features a 150-seat auditorium, divisible conference spaces, and a café.

The SCRM facility is on track to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification and includes numerous design elements that take advantage of San Diego’s Mediterranean climate, including operable windows that maximize natural daylight and shading devices. Outside, the use of native and adaptive plant species and a rainwater capture system eliminate the need for potable water for irrigation.

The $127 million center is funded in part with a $43 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a state agency created to disburse $3 billion from Proposition 71, the stem cell research ballot measure approved by state voters in 2004.

The project also received a $30 million donation from Sioux Falls, S.D., philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, for whom the consortium is named. He also serves as the consortium’s co-chair, along with local philanthropist Malin Burnham, Qualcomm Chairman and co-founder Irwin Mark Jacobs, and San Diego Padres Chairman John J. Moores, a former software executive.

3 Buildings Completed At Santana High School

Officials from Grossmont Union High School District and Santana High School joined students for a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 16 to celebrate the completion of three modernized buildings on the high school campus.

The new Career Technical Education building, campus library and 10-classroom Building 200 feature indoor and outdoor classrooms, laboratories and applied learning spaces with state-of-the-art equipment to readily prepare students for the workforce.

The new CTE building, also known as Building 800, houses classrooms, observation sites and applied learning spaces where students can actively engage in courses such as architectural design, alternative energy, principles of engineering and civil engineering.

The CTE Building 800 modernization project at Santana High School is a part of the Proposition U bond passed in November 2008 by East County voters.

The project team for the new Santana High School buildings includes program manager Gafcon Inc., architect Harley Ellis Devereaux and construction managers C.W. Driver and Erickson-Hall.

Solar Power Systems Unveiled at University

Two new solar systems have been dedicated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Point Loma Nazarene University.

The new 620kW DC photovoltaic system and 54kW solar thermal hot water system on PLNU’s campus will provide a combined savings of up to $1.6 million during the next 20 years. The projects build on PLNU’s first solar PV system developed by SPG Solar in 2008. PLNU continues to show its commitment to sustainability with one of the highest ratios of solar power to students in the U.S.

SPG Solar designed, engineered and constructed the 620kW system that spans two rooftops and five solar carports, using Kyocera KD 235-watt solar panels. Perpetual Energy Systems financed the system through a Power Purchase Agreement under which PLNU will purchase the electricity produced at a predetermined rate over 20 years.  

Concurrent to the PV system’s construction was the installation of a 54kW solar water heating system by Adroit Solar, an integrator of solar thermal systems. The system will provide an estimated 940 gallons of hot water a day to the student dorms and save the university $5,000 annually on utility bills. The project was financed by the Student Green Fund, a $5 semester fee to provide funding for sustainability efforts on campus.