Industry News

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC) will soon complete a 44,000-sf expansion that will include a nucleic acid testing laboratory enabling earlier detection of Hepatitis C and HIV. The testing process will provide over 80 hospitals and clinics with the highest quality of blood available. The $10-million expansion will increase STBTC's headquarters to 125,000-sf and will include expanded facilities for umbilical blood storage.

APL Logistics has selected Catellus Development Corp. of San Francisco to develop its planned three-building, 992,000-sf warehouse distribution complex in Douglas County, Ga. Slated for completion in 2004, the project could expand up to 1.3-million-sf. Catellus is also developing a 346,000-sf facility for APL in Romeoville, Ill.

The Memphis Cook Convention Center is engaged in a $93-million expansion slated for completion in spring 2003. The expanded center will total 250,000 sf and will feature the new 2,100-seat Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. A 35,000-sf exhibit hall and a 28,000-sf ballroom are included in the project. The center was originally constructed in 1974 with 21 meeting rooms, an executive conference center and a 125,000-sf column-free exhibit hall. The recent 80,000-sf expansion includes an additional five meeting rooms.

The $17.9-million Regional Transportation Center is under construction in San Diego. Located on a 1.4-acre site in City Heights, the project will feature a 60,000-sf facility that will promote awareness of alternative fuel vehicles. The building is being funded via a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and by the San Diego Environmental Foundation, Ford Motor Co., Pearson Ford, California Air Resources Board, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the city of San Diego.

American BioFuels is relocating its production operations to Bakersfield, Calif., as part of a joint venture with Hondo Chemical of Bakersfield. American BioFuels, based in San Diego, will move from a building in Adelanto which processed 2.5 million gallons of biofuel annually to Hondo's Bakersfield site, which can process 50 million gallons annually. Initial production is aimed to reach 15 million gallons per year as market demand increases. Production at the Hondo facilities is slated to begin in February 2003.