Industry News

Western Washington University (WWU) is developing the 131,000-sf Communications Building on its Bellingham campus in a single phase. The four-story, $36.4-million project will be comprised of three above-ground floors and one basement level and will house the departments of journalism, communications, physics, and computer science departments.

East Carolina University broke ground in March 2004 on a $60-million facility that will house the School of Nursing, the School of Allied Health Sciences, and the Health Sciences Medical Library. Designed by Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce of Winston-Salem, N.C., the 290,000-sf building is located in the University’s Health Services Learning Village in Greenville, N.C. The facility will accommodate 2,170 graduate and undergraduate students.

The Kansas Air National Guard will break ground on a $7.8 million intelligence facility in Wichita in August 2004. The facility will receive top-secret information transmitted from a battle zone from sources like the Predator remotely-piloted vehicle, analyze the information, and send it to the field units. Construction is expected to reach completion in one year. Housing between 60 and 80 personnel, the building will be constructed with the capability to expand to accommodate 220 personnel as the mission expands.

BPB, a wall and ceiling products manufacturer, will construct a $100-million gypsum wallboard plant in Roxboro, N.C. Slated to open in 2007, the facility will produce 700 million-sf of gypsum wallboard annually.

Time Warner Cable is expanding with the construction of a $36-million facility adjacent to its existing offices in Charlotte, N.C. Time Warner, the second-largest operator of cable systems in the nation, currently employs 700 workers in Charlotte and plans to expand operations with 350 new jobs to include additional functions.