Corporate

Pitcairn Properties of Jenkintown, Pa., is planning to build three office facilities totalling 600,000 sf to 750,000 sf adjacent to Wal-Mart's headquarters in Benton, Ark. Partnering with real estate investor and developer FBE Ltd. of New York, Pitcairn will build the $80- to $100-million project in phases. Wal-Mart's suppliers are expected to lease the offices, which Wal-Mart has requested be connected with its headquarters via fiber-optic cabling and an elevated walkway.

The Coca-Cola Co. has opened its new regional headquarters in the MCI Center in Los Angeles' historic downtown. The $600-million facility was designed and built using ecologically sensitive methods and materials.

The new 2,300,000-sf headquarters of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is under construction. Located on eight acres in Alexandria, the facility consists of five 10-story buildings in a U-shaped complex, with a total of 3,800 parking spaces in two garages. Designed by architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the headquarters features a pedestrian accessible 10-story atrium connecting the two wings of Building A, with all five buildings linked via underground walkways.

Current plans for the proposed Raleigh Convention Center describe a 410,000-sf facility housing 150,000-sf of exhibition space. An additional 30,000-sf of meeting and conference facilities will be accompanied by 25,000-sf of ballroom space. Estimated project cost is $175- to $200-million.

Electronic Arts has built the $86-million Electronic Arts Phase II in Redwood City, Calif. Located on a 649,000-sf site, the project began construction in December of 2000 and reached completion in May of this year. The contractor was Webcor Builders.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has awarded Eighth Day Design of Arlington, Va. a three-year contract for design consultant services for its headquarters and all other leased space in Washington, D.C. Eighth Day will provide interior design, construction administration, and architectural and engineering services for programming design of tenant build-out projects and interior renovations. Eighth Day has provided IMF with design and architectural services for the past three years.

Veritas Software Corp. is developing Corporate Campus II, a $170-million project designed by architect Hellmuth Obata + Kassabaum. Located on a 990,990-sf site in Milpitas, Calif., the campus is being built by general contractor Rudolph & Sletten. Construction began in November 2000 and is slated for completion in May 2003.

Synygy, an employee benefits compensation programming and software company, has commissioned Syska Hennessy Group to design new mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems as well as the acoustics, audiovisual, telecommunications, and lighting for a new corporate headquarters. The 163,500-sf tenant fit-out projects is being undertaken in the historically significant Chester Station in Chester, Pa. The building is one of the best-preserved and most monumental early power plants in the U.S. dating back to 1917.

Fairfax-based Lorton Arts Foundation has submitted a proposal to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to redevelop the 41.4-acre former Lorton prison site as a community arts, education and cultural center. Centerbrook Architects of Centerbrook, Conn., designed the proposed Lorton Workhouse Arts Center, which would include galleries, event space, offices, artist studios, theatrical and production areas, heritage exhibits, and an outdoor music shed.

USA Today, a subsidiary of McLean, Va.-based Gannett, is planning to build an emergency publishing center outside of Washington, D.C. In addition to its alternate Silver Spring data center and publishing site, the project will enable publishing in the event of an area-wide disaster. Current options include the construction or lease of a publishing center removed from the District by more than 100 miles, or the creation of both East and West coast emergency publishing centers. Each center will be staffed by 20-25 employees.

The proposed Assembly Square redevelopment project in Somerville will include approximately 2 million sf of R&D and office space, 1.8 million sf of residential space, 605,000 sf of retail, and 30 acres of open space. Sited on 126 acres, the project is being developed by Sturtevant Partnership, a collaboration of Boston-based Taurus New England Investments Corp. and Gravestar Inc. of Cambridge.

Hewlett Packard was recently awarded the Association of Briefing Program Managers 2002 trophy for best new or renovated center in the nation for its 400,000-sf Executive Briefing Center in Cupertino. Designed for all technology to be invisible, the renovated 14-year-old center houses product showcases and shareholder and company meetings. The 10-month project was completed by Toeniskoeter & Breeding and RMW Architecture and Interiors of San Francisco.   

North Carolina State University is developing the 1,334-acre Centennial Campus in Raleigh, N.C., a mixed-use "technopolis" of university, corporate and government R&D facilities. With 1.3 million sf built in 16 major building modules, the Centennial Campus will also include a town center, business incubators, housing, and an executive conference center and hotel. The campus is comprised of the 1,120-acre Centennial Campus and the 214-acre Centennial Biomedical Campus.

MasterCard has built a new 550,000-sf global technology and operations headquarters in suburban St. Louis. To ensure that the three four-story office wings accommodate changes in MasterCard's technology and business, architect HOK designed 35,000-sf open floor plates that are easy to reconfigure. The three-story data center includes a heavily reinforced concrete structure, no windows, "2 (N+1)" power redundancy, an uninterruptible power supply system, a reserve water system, and a "preaction" fire protection system.

NBC is building a new street-level television studio and newsroom in 25,000 sf of leased space in San Francisco. National and local advertising sales staff will be housed in existing office space in the facility, where Bay Area broadcasts for MSNBC, Telemundo, and NBC National News will originate. Accommodating between 75 and 85 employees, the space will be ready for occupancy toward the end of October. The project was designed by architect Gensler.