A joint venture of Gilbane Building Company and Turner Construction marked the topping out of the Wadsworth Center laboratory in Albany, New York, a $1.7 billion public health lab project for the State of New York, according to a release carried by Associated Construction Publications on October 25.
The Wadsworth Center is the New York State Department of Health's public health, environmental and food-safety laboratory. The $1.7 billion figure for the new building would place it among the largest single capital projects currently under construction anywhere in the state, well above every open solicitation on The RFI Wire's own bid board, where the biggest live jobs top out around $100 million.
Topping out means the structural frame has reached its full height; the work that follows — MEP buildout, lab fit-out, the interior trades — is where most of the dollar volume and the subcontracting opportunity on a lab job this size actually sits. Gilbane and Turner have not yet put the finish-trade packages out in a way that shows up on public bid boards, and The RFI Wire found no solicitation tied to the project among the 333 live agency postings tracked as of October 26.
Separately, Turner also marked a beam-signing ceremony for a new Northern Chautauqua hospital project in western New York, according to the same ACP report dated October 25. Beam signings, like topping-outs, mark structural milestones rather than bid openings, but they are also the point in a job's life when owners' reps start locking subcontractor scopes for the trades that follow steel.
Neither release named a general contractor's subcontracting portal or a specific bid date for either job's remaining trade packages. Contractors chasing lab or hospital finish work in the Albany and Chautauqua County markets should watch both companies' own subcontractor-outreach pages, since structural milestones like these are typically followed within weeks by MEP, finishes and lab-casework solicitations.
What to do next
If you do mechanical, electrical, lab casework, or hospital finish work anywhere near Albany or Chautauqua County, now is the time to get on Gilbane's and Turner's subcontractor prequalification lists — both firms typically open finish-trade bidding in the weeks right after a topping-out or beam-signing event, not before. Check each contractor's own subcontractor outreach page directly; neither release included a bid date or portal link.