Industry News

A new bill introduced in February 2000 called the Truthfulness, Responsibility, and Accountability in Contracting Act - Contracting (TRAC) Act," H.R. 3766, "Prohibits any Federal agency from making a decision to privatize, outsource, contract out, or contract for the performance of a function currently performed by such agency or to conduct a study to convert a function from Federal to contractor performance."

Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp., based in San Diego, received approval in August from the City of Oceanside to build a full-scale manufacturing plant there. An incentive for Idec to locate in Oceanside was the city’s agreement to build a $1.2-million “brine line” that will funnel wastewater from the Idec plant to the ocean. The $1.25-billion project will be built in three phases at the Ocean Ranch Corporate Center. Phase one will be a 362,000-sf manufacturing and R&D facility, with completion anticipated in July 2003.

Teradyne, based in Boston, will expand manufacturing and engineering for its industrial consumer division when it occupies a 232,000-sf, one-story facility in Woburn previously owned by Digital Equipment Corp. of Cambridge. The building will be extensively refurbished, with occupancy scheduled for December 2000. The semiconductor company is also breaking ground at a 38-acre site in North Reading on the third building of a four-building complex there.

Mount Holyoke College, as part of its new master plan, will transform its 19th-century gymnasium building into the campus hub for student life. Miller Dyer Spears, based in Boston, is designing the three-story Blanchard Campus Center. While preserving the historic character of the structure, a coffee bar, cybercafe, gameroom, art gallery, college store, mailroom, info center, and student lounges will be featured on the main level. A two-story addition will expand dining capacity to 350 seats and will double as a large performance and events space.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Office of Real Estate has plans for a $46-million, 185,000-sf building at a 7.5-acre site in Cambridge next to MIT and Technology Square. The project will gut an historic 1830s 135,000-sf building and build a new five-story, 50,000-sf adjacent structure with plans to lease the entire lab/office facility to a biotechnology company. Surface parking for 272 vehicles is included in the plan. Completion is anticipated in 2002. The project construction manager is Barr & Barr.