Industry News

Plantation, Fla.-based delivery and logistics firm DHL will construct a new service center facility at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. The 80,200-sf facility represents a $6-million investment for facility construction, capital improvements, a ten year lease, and airport-related costs.

Verizon Communications has awarded Skanska USA Building the construction management services assignment to renovate seven four-story buildings on a 135-acre campus in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The 1.3 million-sf complex, formerly occupied by AT&T, will house the leadership teams for Verizon's Domestic Telecom and International units. Construction on the $98-million project has begun. The project involves interior and exterior renovations, as well as numerous mechanical plant upgrades.

Mellon Financial Corp. is constructing a 120,000-sf backup data center in Armstrong County, Pa. Sited 30 miles north of Pittsburgh on 40 acres, the facility will improve the financial industry's resiliency for disaster recovery. The data center is expected to be operational in 2007.

DHL has initiated construction on a $107-million distribution facility in Allentown, Pa. The 290,000-sf building will serve as DHL's principal distribution center on the East Coast. Housing 200,000 sf of mezzanine workspace and 12,000 sf of office space, the facility will employ 340 workers when it becomes operational in fall of 2006. The center's handling capacity is 40,000 letters or 50,000 parcels an hour. DHL is headquartered in Plantation, Fla.

FedEx's 350,000-sf facility at Oakland International Airport in California may be the largest corporate solar-power installation in the state. The 904-kilowatt system is expected to supply 80 percent of the facility's energy needs. Constructed by PowerLight Corp . of Berkeley, Calif., the system has a life expectancy of thirty years. The solar roof system provides thermal insulation and ultraviolet ray protection for the building in addition to generating electricity.