Industry News

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.

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, housed in a state-of-the-art  instruction facility in a former streetcar repair building called the Car Barn, now has plans for a new $55-million, 200,000-sf business school building. The structure, part of the university master plan, will accommodate undergraduate and graduate students, non-degree executive development students, and offices for the faculty. The university expects to begin a three-year construction project in September on a large dormitory complex.

The 66-year-old U.S. Custom House became the first building in Pennsylvania to receive an Energy Star Buildings Label from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for energy efficiency. The Energy Star Buildings Label recognizes the nation's top 25 percent most energy efficient buildings in the areas of energy performance and indoor environment standards.

Delaware Biotechnology Institute, a collaboration between the state of Delaware, the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, and private businesses, has a $14 million research facility under construction at Newark's Delaware Technology Park. Construction is expected to be complete in November 2000 at the 70,000-sf facility where up to 50 researchers will be accommodated. Hercules Inc., a Wilmington, Del., specialty chemical firm, pledged $1 million to the project.

Abgenix Inc. is expanding with a new $50 million, 200,000-sf complex at Ardenwood Corporate Park in Fremont. The interior of an existing 100,000-sf shell building will be customized and a new 100,000-sf structure will be built on adjacent property. Abgenix will use its existing nearby facility for R&D, shifting the corporate headquarters, offices, and labs to the new complex. Construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2000, with completion in approximately 14 months. The general contractor is Sobrato Development Cos. of Cupertino, Calif.