Industry News

AOL is investing $555 million in a new campus in Gainesville, Va. Ground was broken on the 37-acre Technology Center IV in November of 2000, the day after the investment was announced. The campus is expected to be fully operational by October of 2001.

Astrolink will locate its new $205 million network operations center in the Prince William County-owned Innovation office park in Manassas, Va. The Bethesda-based wireless broadband company is also building a global telecommunications satellite network for broadband and Internet services.

The 58,000-sf International Spy Museum is under construction in Washington in a building that formerly housed the Communist Party of the United States. The first of its kind in the nation, the two-floor espionage museum is being developed by The Malrite Co. and is due to open in spring of 2002. In addition to retail outlets and a spy-themed restaurant, the museum will house an Enigma machine, a pioneering World War II encryption device.

Redmond, Wa.-based Microsoft has opened the new 26,000-sf Silicon Valley Technology Center in Mountain View, Ca., a 10-lab facility enabling businesses to try the company's suite of enterprise software prior to purchasing.  

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.