• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Apr 21, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center can celebrate its 20th anniversary with the anticipated summer groundbreaking for its $28 million new clinical research building.

The money was obtained piecemeal over time in a “frustrating” process, but Pennington Executive Director Claude Bouchard said he is confident construction will finally begin as soon as June.

“We’re very, very pleased,” Bouchard said. “All indications are that it will happen.”

Last year’s legislative session provided $21 million, consisting of $5 million in cash and $16 million in state construction dollars.

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s second special legislative session in March put Pennington over the top with $50 million — $7 million of which is reserved for the clinical research center.

The Pennington health research center focuses on issues ranging from obesity and diabetes prevention to stem-cell and genetics research to fight cancer.

Bill Silvia, Pennington chief financial officer, said the only major hurdle remaining is for the state to bid the project out and start construction on the four-floor, 90,000-square-foot facility.

Jerry Jones, the state’s director of facility planning, said bidding should be in May, meaning that construction could begin as early as late June.

Clinical research is what allows Pennington scientists to work directly with people and demonstrate the effectiveness of treatments, essentially bringing the science to life, Bouchard said. The new construction is essential to keep Pennington at the leading edge worldwide, he said.

The planned project should bring about 300 new jobs to Pennington, which consists of a 600,000-square-foot center on a 237-acre site along Perkins Road. The center employs more than 600 doctors, scientists and staff, including 70 faculty.

But the clinical research building is just the beginning of Pennington’s planned rapid growth, Bouchard said.

As soon as the clinical building is complete, Pennington will build an adjoining $12 million imaging center paid for out of the $50 million from the March special session, Bouchard said.

“That will increase tremendously our ability to do very sophisticated clinical studies,” Bouchard said, with much more human tissue analysis without being invasive.