Industry News

Stanford University is planning to build a state-of-the-art book storage facility on 5.8 acres recently purchased in the National Business Park in Livermore.

Novartis AG will lease the entire 255,000-sf Technology Square building and 150,000 sf nearby to establish the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Europe's third-largest drug manufacturer, will invest $255-million in the worldwide research headquarters that will eventually house 900 scientists.

San Antonio-based pharmaceutical company Ilex Oncology expected to close in late May 2002 on a lease of 32,000 sf of newly refurbished Cambridge lab space. Ilex, currently leasing a smaller Boston space, plans to relocate in late fall to the Cambridge facility. The new lab is located in a 128,000-sf, four-story office building converted for lab use being finished by property owner and developer The Beal Cos. of Boston.

Clark University has selected Waltham-based Genesis Planners to design a new 30,000-sf field house and athletic fields at Granger Field in Worcester. Including locker rooms and training facilities for outdoor athletic teams and recreational sports, the $7.5-million facility features a 16,000-sf multipurpose practice space.

Ground was broken on Saint Mary's College's new Syufy Performing Arts Center in May. The 7,000-sf building will house programs in dance and music in addition to providing space for individual and group instrument practice. A scene design and storage facility is included in the project. The building, slated for completion in 2003, is named after regent and trustee Raymond J. Syufy.