Industry News

Tetratec PTFE Technologies, a subsidiary of Donaldson Co. Inc., is planning a new headquarters on 19.25 acres in Northampton. Located in the Ginko Industrial Park, the 61,000-sf building will consolidate four of the company's Feasterville facilities.

Allstate Corp. plans to occupy 50,030 sf at a new 70,000-sf office building under construction at Twin Oaks Office Park in North Central San Antonio. The Northbrook, Ill.-based national insurance company will be the major tenant at Two Twin Oaks, which has 67,000 sf net rental space available.

Vanguard Group has completed construction of three 120,000-sf structures at its 300-acre campus in Malvern. The company is beginning preliminary work on an additional 2.5 million sf, with phase one construction on the proposed project starting as early as spring 2002. The multi-phased project would begin with two buildings, each 320,000 sf, on 70 acres of the company’s 250-acre Downington campus.

Lucasfilm Ltd., based in San Rafael, Calif., is converting the former Letterman Hospital at San Francisco’s historic Presidio to a new 900,000-sf digital arts campus. Demolition by Webcor Builders at the 23-acre site began in early December 2001. Design is under way for the new facility, with George Lucas leading the design team. Gensler Architecture is consulting on the project. San Francisco-based Robinson Mills Williams will provide tenant improvements. Larry Halpern is the landscape specialist.

Microsoft Corp., headquartered near Seattle in Redmond, has selected Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle to handle all new leases, terminations, and renewals for the software maker’s leased office space, which totals approximately eight million sf around the world. The contract to consolidate all leasing functions with Jones Lang LaSalle is expected to be worth $3- to $5-million annually to the real estate company. Microsoft’s headquarters and other space the company uses around Seattle are not included in the contract.