Industry News

A new Oklahoma City Federal Building was dedicated on May 3, 2004. Adjacent to the site where the Murrah building once stood, the facility’s security features include a steel-plated main entrance, shatterproof glass, and bollards, which are concrete plugs preventing vehicles from getting too close. The $33-million horseshoe-shaped building began construction in October 2001, with federal agencies beginning occupancy in December 2003.

Aldrich Chemical Co. is consolidating three citywide locations with a move to an 800,000-sf plant in Milwaukee. Slated to begin in fall and continue through June 2005, the relocation was prompted by a need to make room for the reconstruction of the Marquette interchange where Aldrich’s main site was located. The sale of the site will fund the $65-million expansion and renovation of the new plant. Aldrich Chemical is a subsidiary of Sigma-Aldrich Corp. of St. Louis, a producer of biochemical and organic chemical products.

Wake Forest University’s Babcock Graduate School of Management is planning to open a 30,000-sf campus in Charlotte. The project will be sited in a new development owned by Wachovia Corp. and will include a 1,200-seat performing arts center.

The USDA is constructing a BSL-3AG replacement facility in Ames, Iowa. Designed to foster scientific collaboration in animal health and food safety among three separate federal government agencies, the facility is structured for concurrent research on multiple animal disease pathogens. Designed by Merrick & Company of Aurora, Colo., the $60-million facility and $20-million infrastructure upgrade will include 159,000 sf of total space, 52,000-sf of it in high containment areas.