Pennington groundbreaking slated for Wednesday

A groundbreaking ceremony for Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s clinical research building will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Gov. Bobby Jindal and Mayor Kip Holden are expected to attend the event to mark construction of the $18.2 million, four-story, 90,000-square-foot building. Bob McNeese, Pennington’s assistant executive director of facilities, says contractor Milton Womack was given notice to proceed this week and is scheduled to finish the project in July 2010. McNeese says Pennington has outgrown the current 40,000-square-foot facility, requiring the use of five temporary office trailers. The new building will be connected to the old one, which Pennington plans to renovate. The project was never threatened by the state’s $341 million deficit since the construction money had already been appropriated in last year’s special session, McNeese says. Jindal says Pennington’s operating costs will be spared from the current round of budget cuts.—David Jacobs