Industry News

Newark-based Horizon Blue Cross  Blue Shield has leased 87,460 sf in Mount Laurel for consolidation and expansion of its presence  in South Jersey. Employee relocation and closure of the Philadelphia and Evesham offices were scheduled for late June. The facility, which will employ more than 400 people, will act as a secondary headquarters for the state's largest health insurer. Horizon has signed a 15-year lease for the $11 million office, built by Boston-based Leggat McCall Properties.

San Jose-based developer U.S. Dataport is planning a 2,000,000-sf, $1.4-billion Internet data center campus at a 188-acre site in Gainesville, Va. The 188-acre site is slated to open in early 2002.

A new 32,000-sf veterinary care facility costing between $5 million and $10 million will be built at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. The building will house office, institutional and veterinary care, and animal handling and treatment spaces.    

The Cancer Therapy and Research Center has completed a 20,000-sf expansion of its Institute for Drug Development. Consolidating basic and translational research labs, the facility will focus on developing new cancer treatment therapies. The expansion is funded by a $35 million capital campaign that will also endow the IDD senior scientific chairs.

George Mason University is planning several additions by 2007 to its 124-acre Prince William campus located in the Innovation @ Prince William Technology Park in Manassas, Va. Focussing on academic research in computer and information technology, plans include a new research/classroom facility as well as additional research space via industry partnerships. An arts center will be built as a joint venture of GMU, Prince William County and the City of Manassas.