Energy-Saving System Eyed for $200M Medical Research Facility

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Twin Cities-area medical institutions are continuing to make major investments in innovative new facilities. A case in point is the $200 million cancer and cardiovascular center building being built by the University of Minnesota near TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. As noted by Finance & Commerce, a local business newspaper, the facility is being developed with an eye toward developing a new generation of treatments.

Scheduled for completion in spring 2013, the 285,000-square-foot facility is the first of three medical buildings planned by the university that would be funded by $292 million provided by state bond funding.  University officials expect the center to attract $40 million each year in new research. The cancer and cardiovascular building is part of the Biomedical Discovery District, along with the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, the Medical Biosciences Building, the Lions Research Building and the McGuire Translational Research Facility.

Of the project’s estimated $140 million hard construction cost, the mechanical contract represents an unusually high 30 percent share, according to Finance & Commerce. Because of the scale of the facility’s projected energy usage, the university has enlisted a team of Architectural Alliance and Metropolitan Mechanical Contractors to create a more efficient mechanical system than is typical for a facility of this kind. The approach developed by the team will meet the high energy efficiency standards set by the Minnesota Buildings, Benchmarks and Beyond Project.