August 7, 2003
Groundbreaking planned Tuesday
The UW community is invited to attend groundbreaking ceremonies for the Genome Sciences and Bioengineering Building, to be constructed along 15th Avenue. N.E. south of N.E. Pacific Street. Since 15th Avenue was realigned several years ago, the area has been used largely for parking.
The event will begin at 3 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 12, on the south edge of the site, near the corner of Boat Street and 15th Avenue. After the ceremonies, a reception is planned in the lobby of the Ocean Sciences Building next door. To attend the reception, please RSVP to 206-685-9420 or hsevents@u.washington.edu by Friday, Aug. 8.
U.S. Senator Patty Murray and Congressman Norm Dicks plan to attend and speak at the groundbreaking.
Scheduled UW speakers include Drs. Lee Huntsman, interim president; Paul Ramsey, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine; Denice Denton, dean of the School of Engineering; Robert Waterston, chair of genome sciences, and Yongmin Kim, chair of bioengineering.
A $70 million gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced in April as the largest single private donation to an institution of higher education in the Northwest, has made it possible for the UW to begin construction of the building this summer. Of that gift, $60 million will go to the building, with the balance used for collaborative global health programs related to genome sciences.
The new building will cost about $150 million, have 265,000 square feet and be finished in phases. The first sections should be finished late in 2005. The building will include a mix of offices, biomedical research laboratories, and associated support facilities.
Anshen and Allen of Los Angeles designed the building. The general contractor and construction manager is Hoffman Construction.
Additional funding includes $12 million from the federal government, $10 million from the Whitaker Foundation, and gifts from other private sources.
