Convergys Corp. is constructing a 170,000-sf call center in Bangalore, India. Housing employee testing areas, training rooms, a language laboratory, and a cafeteria, the facility will accommodate over 3,000 employees when it opens in May of 2003. Convergys, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, provides outsourced billing, human resources, and customer care services.
The New Jersey State Aquarium is planning to break ground on a $33.6-million expansion in late summer of 2003. Designed by Columbus, Ohio-based Steiner + Associates, the $33.6-million project will expand the Camden aquarium by 72,000 sf; retail, entertainment, and restaurants will also be constructed. Including surrounding development, the total project cost could reach $44-million. Steiner + Associates will be responsible for the operation of the expanded aquarium, which will include a new shark tank and hippopotamus area.
Waveworks Digital Media has relocated from Arlington to an 8,000-sf facility in McLean, Va. The twenty-year-old facility accommodates the post production shop’s fifteen employees and includes video suites, a music production facility, two audio rooms, and a music library.
Facilities and transportation engineering firm URS Corp. has leased 36,000 sf at Northpark Town Center in Atlanta. URS is vacating space at Corporate Campus in Alpharetta, at Peachtree Center North Tower, and at a small office in Tucker to consolidate operations in Atlanta.
Facilities management provider Aramark has expanded with four major acquisitions in the past year. Clinical technology services business Premier Inc. was acquired by Aramark, increasing opportunities to provide managed services at heath-care institutions, including the management and maintenance of clinical equipment. Aramark also purchased Fine Host Corp., which added over 900 locations to Aramark's client roster, ranging from convention centers to prisons to stadiums.
Austin-based Client Outsource Corp. will open a 125-seat call center in Bombay. The center will serve information technology and hardware companies in Austin and Silicon Valley that need a minimum of 25 call center seats.
The Montgomery County Department of Economic Development expects to break ground on the $2.5-million Silver Spring Innovation Center in summer of 2003. The free-standing 20,000-sf Silver Spring business incubator will house 12 to 15 companies. The facility will be ready for occupancy approximately six months after construction begins.
Pixar Animation Studios has selected DPR Construction to implement Pixar's Emeryville expansion. The Pleasanton office of DPR is initiating site work for the second facility on the 14-acre campus; Pixar's first studio on the site was also constructed by DPR. The 125,000-sf building is slated to break ground next spring. Pixar is seeking approval for further expansions that could bring its Emeryville facilities up to 800,000 sf.
CB Richard Ellis will acquire Insignia Financial Group in a $415-million transaction, creating the largest real estate services company in the world. With $1.8-billion in revenue and over 16,000 employees, the service company will have a broader gauge and provide global service at a more efficient price. CB Richard Ellis is based in Los Angeles.
Sigma Xi, an international scientific and engineering honor society, is planning to build its $7-million headquarters in Research Triangle Park. The 50,200-sf facility will house a 200-seat auditorium, conference rooms, office space for the society's 44 employees, and a catering kitchen.
Cox Radio is consolidating the operations of its five Jacksonville radio stations into a single 28,000-sf facility in Southside Jacksonville. Construction of the facility is expected to begin in early March 2003 with occupancy slated for September. The project will cost $2-million to build, for a total occupancy cost of approximately $3.4-million.
Lucasfilm Ltd. broke ground in February on a $300-million special effects campus at San Francisco's Presidio, a 490-acre national park and former army base. Located on the site of the demolished Letterman Army hospital, the 850,000-sf Letterman Digital Arts project will eventually accommodate 2,500-workers. The campus is slated for completion in 2005.
Import-export company Pan American Enterprises is relocating operations from Concord, Calif., to 18,200 sf of recently acquired industrial and manufacturing space in Oakland. The two-story facility is sited on 1.49 acres.
Pixar Animation Studios has doubled plans for its Emeryville, Calif., campus to include three new buildings and a two-story parking garage. In addition to its existing 215,000-sf building, each of the new facilities could comprise up to 160,000 sf each. The first building will be sited on an undeveloped portion of Pixar's 14-acre campus. The second building will be constructed on the existing campus parking lot, and the third will replace the former Semifreddi's Baker Building purchased by Pixar, located across the street.
State Farm Insurance is consolidating 66 California claims processing centers down to 20, closing centers in Pleasant Hill, Santa Rosa, Burlingame, San Francisco, Pacific, Marin and Richmond. State Farm will centralize operations in Emeryville, Calif., with the lease of an additional 16,000 sf in EmeryTech, bringing its occupancy in the development up to 60,000 sf through 2009.
