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LARGO, FLA. — Construction is complete for a new medical office project located on the campus of HCA Largo Medical Center in the Tampa Bay city of Largo. The building contains 155,000 square feet over six stories. The anchor tenant is Diagnostic Clinic, a physician-owned, multi-specialty medical practice that occupies more than 110,000 square feet of the building over four floors. In addition, Walgreens has partnered with Salient Medical Center for an on-site pharmacy and an “Option Care” outpatient treatment center, both of which are located on the second floor. The Greenfield Group is the developer of the project. Leighton McGinn Co. was the general contractor, the the project architect was Glidden, Spina & Partners. Largo Medical Center is a 465-bed hospital with campuses in Largo and Indian Rocks. Facilities at the hospital include a 24-hour emergency room, the Tampa Bay Heart Institute, the Florida Spine and Neurosurgery Center, the Florida Breast Institute, and centers for chest pain, cancer and stroke. — Coleman Wood

CHICAGO — The Chicago Plan Commission has granted approval for development to move forward for the Chicago Lakeside Development. The project, which is being touted as one of the largest public-private projects in the city's history, consists of the brownfield redevelopment of 369 acres of lakefront land in the city's South Shore neighborhood. The developer of the $4 billion project is Chicago Lakeside Development LLC, a joint venture between McCaffery Interests and U.S. Steel Corp., whose former South Works plant currently occupies the site. The scale of the project is massive. In its 25- to 45-year build-out period, the project will add approximately 17.5 million square feet of commercial space, 13,575 new homes, a new high school and a 1,500-slip marina to the neighborhood. Approximately 125 acres will consist of public land, and an estimated $450 million in public infrastructure will be added, including an expansive commuter rail and bus service. Funding will come from the joint venture as well as the city. “The approvals by the Plan Commission are the result of more than 4 years of collaboration and negotiations with the City of Chicago,” said Daniel McCaffery, founder and president of McCaffery Interests, in a statement. “It hasn't …

FAIRFAX, VA. — George Mason University will break ground this month for a new $47.5 million student housing project on its Fairfax campus. The project, known as the Northwest Housing VIIIA complex, will consist of two buildings containing 609 beds. Approximately half of the units will be apartment-style residences with kitchens and the other half will be suite-style dorms. The new residence hall will primarily house upperclassmen, with junior and seniors given preference for the apartment-style units. Additional landscaping work will be done at the outdoor quad created by the buildings. Pavers, terraced lawns and bench seating will be added. The project, which is being built by Balfour Beatty Construction and designed by Gensler, is applying for LEED-Silver certification. Demand for student housing at George Mason has consistently grown, and the school has done its best to keep up. In the past 5 years alone, approximately 1,400 beds of student housing have been added. And more is on the way. The current construction pipeline consists of Northwest Housing VIIIA as well as the Hampton Roads, a 400-bed project scheduled for a July completion. “For us, it's about wanting to get to the place where we are feeling like we are …

DALLAS — The grand opening has been held for a new medical office building located in the heart of Dallas' medical corridor. Known as 10740 Medical Office Building, the project was developed by a joint venture among McShane Development Co., Glaucoma Associates of Texas and Cornea Associates of Texas. The four-story, 92,000-square-foot building is located at 10740 North Central Expressway, near Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital as well as Medical City Dallas. Ophthalmology Surgery Center of Dallas is the anchor tenant, occupying all 25,000 square feet of the fourth floor as an ambulatory surgery center. The project's co-developers, Glaucoma Associates and Cornea Associates, each occupy 10,000-square-foot suites. Other tenants include North American Spine, which occupies 8,000 square feet; Dr. Bradley Jost, who operates a 3,700-square-foot practice; and Dallas Laser Center, which is leasing 2,000 square feet. The facility can accommodate additional tenants ranging from 500 to 13,000 square feet. The Dallas office of Cadence McShane Construction provided design/build services for the project. The project architects were Marasco & Associates and Alliance Architects. — Coleman Wood

NEW YORK CITY — SL Green Realty Corp. has entered into an agreement to acquire 600 Lexington Avenue from an affiliate of Hines for $193 million. The Class A tower contains 303,515 square feet of space over 36 floors. Occupancy currently stands at 93.6 percent but approximately 54 percent of the leases are set to expire during the next 3 years. SL Green plans to use this opportunity to launch a targeting leasing and marketing campaign with the goal of repositioning the building. In a statement, SL Green CEO Marc Holliday said, “Recent improvements in New York City office fundamentals, coupled with improvements in the credit markets, have resulted in the New York City real estate market beginning to open up after 2 years, in which there has been a dearth of institutional-quality offerings. We have worked hard to build our cash position in order to be able to take advantage of opportunities quickly as the market recovers. With that in mind, we moved aggressively to lock up this opportunity, and there exists a strong likelihood that we will be able to attract a joint venture partner on this asset.” As part of the transaction, SL Green will assume $49.85 …

WEST BAY, FLA. — The St. Joe Company has commenced development of its proposed VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre in West Bay. Construction will begin later this year for an approximately 50,000-square-foot, Class A, multi-tenant office building. In addition, upon the building's completion in summer 2011. St. Joe will relocate its corporate headquarters from Jacksonville, Fla., to the VentureCrossings building. The developer will do so to give itself a central location to oversee the development of VentureCrossings. The master-planned project encompasses 1,000 acres, which will be used for a variety of property types. Approximately 100 acres will be set aside for retail, office and hotel projects, and approximately 300 acres will be for light industrial uses. The final 600 acres will take advantage of the park's prime location immediately adjacent to the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport to provide tenants with manufacturing, distribution and logistics space within sight of the new airport's runway. “VentureCrossings is an unparalleled greenfield site and a unique multi-modal opportunity for expanding businesses interested in air, land and sea access,” said Kevin Johnson, vice president of economic development for St. Joe. “Because of our region's strong military presence and transportation assets, West Bay is an ideal growth …

SAN DIEGO — The Unified Port of San Diego has authorized the transfer of 6 acres of land that will be used for the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center. The San Diego Convention Center Corp. (SDCCC) will pay $1 million of the $13.5 million purchase price at closing for the land, which is being transfered from Fifth Avenue Landing LLC. The SDCCC will then pay $500,000 per year toward the principal for 5 years and pay off the remainder of the loan at the end of the 5-year term. The expansion stands to add approximately 1.26 million square feet of space to the already 2.6 million-square-foot convention center. Tentative expansion plans include 200,000 square feet of exhibit space, 100,000 square feet of meeting rooms, 80,000 square feet of multi-purpose ballrooms and 40,000 square feet of bayfront retail. The project is estimated to cost $752.7 million. According to the SDCCC, the convention center expansion is something the city has needed for a long time. the organization estimates that San Diego has lost or has had to turn away 381 events in recent years due to lack of space at the convention center. The city is also at risk of …