Children's Hospital will be poised to be the preeminent institution
conducting translational research for the benefit of children.
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia erected the final beam today in a "Topping Off"
ceremony for the Colket Translational Research Building, the first in a
series of buildings to be constructed on Children's Hospital's new South
Campus.
Thousands including donors Ruth M. and Tristram C. Colket, Jr.,
Children's Hospital researchers, Board of Trustee members and senior
leadership signed the beam to commemorate this milestone.
The new eleven-story, 450,000-square-foot research building is named
for Ruth M. and Tristram C. Colket, Jr. in appreciation of their $25
million donation toward Children's Hospital's goal to advance translational
research -- translating basic science research into real-life treatments
and cures.
"The Colket Translational Research Building represents the future of
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a healthier future for children
everywhere," said Steven M. Altschuler, M.D., president and chief executive
officer of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Medical research has
never been more promising, and I am confident that the greatest advances in
pediatric research will occur in this state-of-the-art facility."
"Thanks to the commitment and generosity of Ruth and Tristram Colket,
Jr., we will now have physical facilities as great as our scientists'
talent and our institution's vision," said Stephen B. Burke, chairman,
Children's Hospital Board of Trustees. "When we speak of Children's
Hospital, we say that hope lives here. As we put the final beam in place on
the Colket building, we know that a new hope will live -- and thrive --
here."
The $400 million research tower will comprise four new laboratory
floors, a two-story ground floor housing a lobby, cafeteria, conference
space, and four administrative office floors, three of which are
convertible to future laboratory use. The building has been designed to
expand vertically to 23 stories to provide for future growth.
The new building will provide flexible state-of-the-art laboratory
space for Children's Hospital's Center for Childhood Cancer Research as
well as the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics. Projected
completion is 2010.
"Our goal is to advance the health of children by turning scientific
discovery into medical innovation," said Philip R. Johnson, M.D., chief
scientific officer at Children's Hospital. "This state-of-the-art facility
enables Children's Hospital to recruit top-level researchers by providing
the space, equipment and technology required to advance pediatric medicine.
Children's Hospital will be poised to be the preeminent institution
conducting translational research for the benefit of children."
The research tower follows an initial phase of construction involving
the development of four stories below grade providing infrastructure and
laboratory support space as well as an expandable central utility plant to
support the entire development of Children's Hospital new South Campus.
The research facility is being built on a portion of the former
Philadelphia Civic Center site. The new location has been designated as
Children's Hospital's new South Campus, comprising nearly eight acres of
land directly across from Children's Hospital's current clinical and
research facilities.
In addition to the new state-of-the-art Colket Translational Research
Building, Children's Hospital's new South Campus will house an underground
parking garage and an ambulatory care building with outpatient services
including day medicine, day surgery and imaging, as well as enhanced
amenities for patients, families and employees.
The South Campus complex is estimated to cost more than one billion
dollars and consist of more than one million square feet of clinical and
research space. The architect for the building is Ballinger of
Philadelphia. The construction manager is Turner Construction.
SOURCE The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
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Related links:
http://www.chop.edu
CONTACT:
Rachel Salis-Silverman of The Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia, +1-267-426-6063, Salis@email.chop.edu
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