An event nearly six years in the making, Choate Construction Company and the University of North Carolina celebrated the completion of the Imaging Research Building, now titled Marsico Hall, on Thursday, March 27th.

Located on UNC’s campus in Chapel Hill, Marsico Hall will be the University’s premiere research facility, bringing together both UNC’s School of Pharmacy and the School of Medicine. Designed by the architecture firm Perkins + Will, the 343,000-SF building was constructed to contain five interdisciplinary functions, of which include the Biomolecular Research Imaging Center (BRIC) and the School of Pharmacy’s Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery.

Both preconstruction and construction services for this $245 million project was performed by Choate Construction. This project marks the largest Construction Manager At-Risk project ever completed in the State of North Carolina. Primary funding for Marsico Hall was provided by North Carolina via General Assembly appropriations and was the only state funded project in 2009.

“Because of the state’s investment, students and faculty will be able to further advance scientific discovery and the delivery of care of North Carolinians and beyond – all in a leading edge facility,” said Dr. Bill Roper, Dean of the UNC School of Medicine.

The significance of the work to be performed in the building was not lost on Choate. “Marsico Hall is one of the special buildings you get to be involved with once in a lifetime. The core purpose of this facility, the research that will lead to quicker identification, better treatment, and hopefully cures to diseases helped drive Choate’s project team and every human being that touched this project. We are very fortunate and proud to have been a part of bringing this building to reality for UNC and the people of North Carolina,” said Choate Vice President and Division Manager Dave Knudson.

From concept to completion, Marsico Hall’s project schedule fell just shy of six years and included an astonishing four years of construction. Congratulations to the University of North Carolina, Perkins + Will and Choate Construction’s tireless project team on the completion of this incredible structure.