Industry News

University of California, San Francisco, broke ground in October 1999 on a $1.5 billion biotechnology campus at a 303-acre site in Mission Bay, where Stanford University plans to break ground in 2000 on its own $200 million, 225,000-sf Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering-Mission Bay.

Virginia Tech may receive $12 million in funding from the proposed state budget to build a biomedical center and establish a biotech research center. The University of Virginia is also targeted in the proposed budget for $2.5 million to convert an abandoned hospital to a technology center at its Wise Campus.

EMD Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Germany-based Merck KgaA, is building a 148,000-sf marketing, sales, and clinical research facility in Durham. The Indra Group is the developer of the project.

Siemens Electromechanical Components Inc. opened a new three-story, 100,000-sf headquarters in July at the Westpark Office Center. R&D, customer service reps, and corporate executives are housed at the new facility constructed by Group VI Corp. of Stockbridge.

Serono Laboratories Inc., based in Norwell, Mass., plans to consolidate its offices and labs at a new $20 million, 200,000-sf headquarters that will straddle the town line between Hingham and Rockland. A.W. Perry Inc. of Boston is the developer on the project. Construction has not yet begun, but move-in is scheduled for late 2000.

Serono Labs is a drug-development company and a subsidiary of Ares-Serono Group SA of Geneva, Switz.