Industry News

Nextel Communications Inc. is retrofitting a 33,359-sf office building at Creekside Business Park in Danville to serve as a data switching center. The $10 million renovation will include installation of extra power supplies, a special system for climate control, back-up generators, and fiber-optic connections. Nextel hopes to have the site operational by summer 2000.

MCI Worldcom Inc. has broken ground on a new $8 million regional Internet network in Newark, Calif. The 216,672-sf, two-building project will be built in two phases by the developer, Buffalo Properties Inc. of Dallas, Texas.

Qwest Communications International Inc. has plans to develop 28 new CyberCenters over the next three years, including one in Austin and one in Dallas. IBM Global Services Inc. will build and supply operational support, as well as become the anchor tenant, at the centers it builds.

North Carolina State University, in an alliance with Lucent Technologies, is building a new 120,000-sf facility for fiber optics applications research at the university's Centennial Campus. The Lucent Building, scheduled to open in spring 2000, will house 500 employees of the Lucent Technologies Optical Networking Group.

St. Mary's College of California has begun fund-raising for a new $17 million School of Economics and Business Administration building. The three-story, 36,500-sf structure will accommodate lecture halls, classrooms, offices, conference rooms, and other gathering areas. Construction is slated to begin by summer 2002, with completion in fall 2003. Architect for the building is Ratcliff Architects of Emeryville, Calif.