Industry News

Signature Bioscience is seeking between 70,000-sf and 80,000-sf in San Francisco for its headquarters, currently housed in 27,000-sf in Hayward and 28,000-sf in Richmond. The Richmond facility may be retained in the relocation. Draws for a San Francisco headquarters include the new UC San Francisco Mission Bay campus and its planned life science campus. Catellus Development Corp., developer of the life science facility, has estimated completion of the 155,000-sf building in 2002, not timely for Signature's move.

Austin-based Ambion Inc.'s Diagnostic RNA unit has built a new manufacturing lab and is seeking approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin manufacturing products. Shifting its focus to the molecular pathology market, Ambion began the development in October 2000. The facility also houses space for devising disease test kit formulas.

Smith & Nephew Inc. is expanding in Massachusetts. The company plans to open a new 80,000-sf Andover headquarters for its Endoscopy Division in 2002. The existing headquarters building will be converted to a 110,000-sf manufacturing facility, and a 60,000-sf Mansfield, Mass., manufacturing plant will be expanded by 40,000 sf. The Endoscopy Division makes arthroscopic products.

Rohm and Haas, based in Philadelphia, plans to consolidate its chemical operations in Lower Gwynedd, where the company currently has a 600,000-sf lab. After closing its facility in Bristol Township, Rohm and Haas will invest $20- to $25 million to relocate 175 Bristol employees to Lower Gwynedd and construct a second building at that 140-acre site.

AstraZeneca R&D Boston will soon be adding 80,000 sf to its 170,000-sf office and infectious disease research facility in Boston. The company currently employs 250 at the site; the expansion will accommodate up to 420 over the next few years.