Industry News

The proposed Assembly Square redevelopment project in Somerville will include approximately 2 million sf of R&D and office space, 1.8 million sf of residential space, 605,000 sf of retail, and 30 acres of open space. Sited on 126 acres, the project is being developed by Sturtevant Partnership, a collaboration of Boston-based Taurus New England Investments Corp. and Gravestar Inc. of Cambridge.

Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth is leasing two buildings adjacent to its existing Collegeville headquarters. A 100,000-sf building will provide office space, and a smaller 75,000-sf building will house a training center. Owned by Berwind Property Group, the facilities will be ready for occupation in spring of 2003.

Millipore Corp. has broken ground on its new 47,000-sf ultrafiltration membrane manufacturing facility in Jaffrey. Constructed adjacent to Millipore's existing plant, the facility includes multiple cleanroom spaces, RO water systems, and a wastewater pretreatment plant. Construction manager for the project is Columbia Construction Co. of North Reading.

Durham biotech Xenobiotic Detection Systems (XDS) has doubled its lab space to 3,000 sf in the last two years and is planning a 5,000-sf expansion by year-end. The European Union, which requires that all food and animal feed be tested, has approved XDS' technology as a method of screening for dioxins.

National Semiconductor Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., will build a state-of-the-art computer chip assembly and test plant 40 miles west of Shanghai, China. The $200-million facility will be located on a 36-acre campus in the Suzhou Industrial Park and will employ 500 workers. The plant will be operational in 2004.