GE Healthcare is nearing completion of its new four-story, 506,000-sf facility located in the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa. Housing office space, 50,000 sf of ultrasound assembly operations, a 10,000 sf product display area, an 80-seat auditorium, light manufacturing, programming and engineering facilities, the $85-million building will also include a 1,500-car parking garage, a cafeteria, and a 5,000-sf fitness center.
Microsoft Corp. is planning to expand its Redmond, Wash., campus by one third. The company will invest $1-billion over the next three years to bring 3.1 million additional square feet on line by June of 2009. Microsoft plans to add fourteen new buildings to campus, seven of which will be new construction. The remaining seven buildings will be purchased. The new facilities will house an additional 12,000 employees.
Hitachi Transport System Ltd,, a subsidiary of consumer electronics maker Hitachi, has selected global facilities and services provider ProLogis of Denver to construct a 569,000-sf distribution center in Osaka, Japan. The five story facility, dubbed the ProLogis Parc Maishima II, is slated for completion in the second half of 2006.
Federal Express has selected Birmingham-based Doster Construction to construct a $4-million expansion of its Central Ground Distribution Center in Nashville, Tenn. The project consists of a new recruiting and guardhouse building, an additional maintenance building, a service garage, and expanded loading areas.
Grange Mutual Insurance Company has selected Gilbane Building Company as program and construction manager for a $50 million expansion of Grange's corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. The project consists of a 205,000-sf mid-rise tower accommodating a 1,000-car parking structure, 100,000 sf of office space, data center, auditorium, cafeteria, fitness center, and a new front entrance. The design team for the expansion is Maddox NBD and Perkins + Will.
Printing and prototype systems manufacturer 3D Systems Corp . is relocating its headquarters to Waterford Park in Rock Hill, S.C. The first phase of the $10-million, 75,000-sf facility will reach completion in September 2006. The developer for the project is Koll Development Co. with Choate Construction Co. as general contractor. 3D Systems will close its operations in Grand Junction, Colo., and Valencia, Calif. The next phase of the Rock Hill campus is slated for completion in late 2008.
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.
Fluor Corp. has selected Dallas-based Koll Development Co. to construct its new 120,000-sf international headquarters in Las Colinas, Texas. Sited on 26 acres, the facility will accommodate operations relocated from Orange County, Calif. The new headquarters will also feature an auditorium, a fitness center, and a cafeteria. The project will break ground in July 2005 with completion slated for early 2006.
St. Louis-based Monsanto Co . is planning to construct a $21-million data center at its Creve Coeur, Mo., campus. Construction on the 40,000-sf facility will begin in early 2006 with completion expected in summer 2007. The project team consists of two St. Louis-based firms, Fox Architects and engineering firm William Tao & Associates.
Durham-based USA Baseball , the trainer of the U.S. Olympic baseball team, will construct a $10.8-million National Training Center on 127 acres in Thomas Brooks Park in Cary, N.C. The contractor for the project, T.A. Loving of Goldsboro, will complete construction of the facility by summer of 2007. The center will be comprised of one signature field, three training fields, and retail space. Heery International of Atlanta is leading the project team, with Mulkey Inc.
Lucasfilm will begin occupancy of its Letterman Digital Arts Center at the Presidio in San Francisco in early July of 2005. Housing between 1,300 and 1,500 employees, the new Presidio headquarters will allow Lucasfilm to consolidate operations from three San Rafael locations. Lucasfilm spent $350 million on the renovation of the 800,000-sf facility, a former army hospital now reconfigured as four separate buildings. Lucasfilm holds a sixty year lease on the property at approximately $6 million per year.
