Industry News

Fluor Corp. has selected Dallas-based Koll Development Co. to construct its new 120,000-sf international headquarters in Las Colinas, Texas. Sited on 26 acres, the facility will accommodate operations relocated from Orange County, Calif. The new headquarters will also feature an auditorium, a fitness center, and a cafeteria. The project will break ground in July 2005 with completion slated for early 2006.

Celanese Corp. is relocating its global headquarters to Farmers Branch, Texas from Frankfurt, Germany. The industrial chemicals company has leased an additional 30,000 sf of office space for 12 years at its existing 185,000-sf Dallas-area site. The expansion, slated for completion by December 2005, will accommodate up to 100 relocated positions, as well as headquarters operations for the company's acetate division, previously located in South Carolina.

Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Longs Drug Stores will invest $50 to $55 million in a new distribution center in Patterson, Calif. The 800,000-sf Stanislaus County warehouse will become operational by 2006 and will eventually replace Long's 427,000-sf facility in Lathrop, Calif.

The University of Cambridge is constructing the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) in Cambridge, UK. Designed by TP Bennett of London, the new facility will provide over 4,800 square-meters of research and laboratory space for the University's Department of Engineering's Electrical Division. Housing a 760-square-meter cleanroom and a central atrium, the center will be built by Marriott Construction.

The University of Kansas celebrated the topping off of the new 205,000-sf Biomedical Research Center in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 28, 2005. The $57.2-million, five story project will house facilities for studying proteins, fertility and reproductive studies, strokes and the aging process, and a liver center. The project team consists of Cannon Design, Turner Construction, and GLPM. The finished facility will have 211,500 sf of floor area.