Industry News

Defense contractor BAE Systems is consolidating and expanding its corporate operations in Northern Virginia with a move to 134,000 sf of leased office space currently under construction at the Reston Commons. BAE Systems, based in Rockville, Md., will begin moving employees in phases beginning in June 2002.

Harvard University selected general contractor Lee Kennedy Co. Inc. to manage renovation of 53 Church St., creating a distance learning center and new classrooms. The $3.5-million project involves lifting the two-story historic building from its foundation and realigning the connection to an adjacent building with the addition of a new elevator core. Harvard was prevented from demolishing the original structure by the Cambridge Historical Society.

Dutch firm Qiagen's 200,000-sf Germantown manufacturing facility and U.S. headquarters will be operational in late February 2002 after two years of construction. The biotech firm plans to hire 300 employees, one-third of whom will work in R&D operations and two-thirds in manufacturing. Qiagen Sciences, Qiagen's U.S. subsidiary, makes products and tools for life science research.

Fortress Development has selected RTKL of Baltimore to provide design, master-planning, architecture, engineering, and telecommunications services for its 425-acre Loudoun County data center and office complex. Slated to begin construction in late 2002, the $500-million project, known as CYBERPLEX@DULLES, will feature a 110,000-sf multiple-tenant data center or office building.  

George Washington University selected Einhorn Yaffee Prescott architecture and engineering to design Townhouse Row, a series of eight student rowhouses. Totalling 68,500 sf, the four-story building will house 200 students and is slated to begin construction in August of 2002. The development will feature dining rooms, a kitchen and a private courtyard.