Parsippany, NJ-headquartered Skanska has already gotten started on the project, which will ultimately feature biomedical research labs, office space, a conference area, a library and dining facilities. The development, which is expected to reach completion in the winter of 2006-2007, will be able to accommodate approximately 1,000 employees.

Given the approval of the Maryland Health Care Commission, Skanska will also soon be busy at work on another project involving Johns Hopkins University. As part of a joint venture with Smoot Construction Co., the construction services firm was awarded the contract for a $580-million expansion endeavor at the school's 52-acre East Baltimore campus.

The development calls for the erecting of two clinical towers that would account for 1.5 million sf of space. Skanska and Smoot's monetary share of the $580-million project is $300 million, with Skanska taking 75% of that amount. On the Bayview Medical Center biomedical research project, Skanska will pocket the entire $166 million for itself.