Industry News

Cambridge-based Biogen is investing $45-million in a second purification suite at its Research Triangle Park campus. The suite is slated for completion in mid-2003. The biotech firm is also planning to complete an 800-car parking deck, with a construction cost of $8- to $9-million, by year-end.

Drexel University's LeBow School of Business has completed the 40,000-sf Pearlstein Business Learning Center. The facility includes centers for e-commerce management and executive education, as well as simulated boardrooms with videoconferencing capabilities. The addition was designed by Philip Johnson in conjunction with New York-based Alan Ritchie Architects and Philadelphia's Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates.

International Truck & Engine Corp. (ITE), an Illinois-based manufacturer of diesel engines, trucks, and automotive components, will occupy the 352,170-sf SouthCreek Distribution Center in South Fulton County in March 2003. The building includes cross-dock loading, 30-foot-clear ceilings, an ESFR (early suppression, fast response) sprinkler system, and security features such as extra-thick walls and super-durable doors. ITE is the operating company of Navistar International Corp.   

Sweden-based AstraZeneca is adding 80,000-sf to its 190,000-sf Waltham facility. The project is slated for completion in 2003.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute dedicated the WPI Bioengineering Institute in July. Worcester Polytechnic plans to collect the 4,500-sf of lab and office space, currently in disparate campus locations, in one building. The Institute's first tenant company is Insight Neuroimaging Systems LLC, a developer of radio-frequency coils for MRI machines.