MMC Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Milpitas-based Maxtor Corp., will expand its disk-drive media manufacturing operations with the lease of 183,000-sf in Fremont, Calif. Housing 65,000 sf of cleanrooms, the facility will be occupied in addition to MMC's 140,000-sf location in San Jose.
Ring Power Corp. has selected Elkins Constructors to build its 400,000-sf Jacksonville, Fla., headquarters at World Commerce Center, a 1,000-acre development in St. Johns County. Ring Power, one of the largest full-line Caterpillar dealers in the Southeast, will house its 800 employees in the new facility. Construction is expected to begin by the end of September 2003.
Laboratory Tops, a Taylor, Texas-based manufacturer of epoxy-resin work surfaces, will expand from 85,000 sf to 115,000 sf within the year. The $3.2-million expansion will enable the company to hire up to 200 additional employees over the next five years.
Constar International, a Philadelphia-based plastic bottle manufacturer, is relocating to 636,000 sf in the Pinnacle Park Distribution Center in Dallas. The move denotes a major expansion for Constar, which currently leases 400,000 sf in two buildings nearby in the Turnpike Industrial Park.
Camfil Farr has opened a new 130,000-sf facility in Washington, N.C., for the manufacture of filter containment systems. Four times the size of the former plant, the facility includes expanded space for research and development activities as well as production. It is the new home for the company’s rapidly growing Safety & Protection Division, which has recently added staff in engineering, sales, and manufacturing.
Electronics manufacturing company Synqor is relocating to 102,619 sf of office and R&D space in Boxborough from a total of 50,000 sf in two Hudson facilities and one Marlborough facility. Occupancy will begin in November when over $1-million in tenant improvements is completed. Thirty percent of the building will house office space, with the remainder accommodating research and development. The two-story brick building will also allow for future growth.
General Motors contracted Towanda-based Gibraltar Chimney to make emergency repairs to its Oklahoma City, N.Y., plant damaged by a tornado. GM’s four million-sf plant suffered over $60 million in damage when the tornado toppled two 120-ft tall steel stacks and severely damaged a third stack. The plant, damaged on May 8, 2003, was reopened that June.
Graco Inc., a Minneapolis-based fluid-handling equipment manufacturer, is building a new 42,000-sf headquarters facility on its corporate campus. The building will house manufacturing and administrative operations currently located at Graco’s main plant facility. The project is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2004.
Houston-based Triple-S Steel Supply Co. is planning to construct a 200,000-sf steel distribution center at KellyUSA in San Antonio. The center, to be constructed on 13.8 acres of land, will consolidate the company’s two San Antonio-area distribution facilities. Completion is slated for February or March of 2004.
U.S. Air Conditioning Distributors will locate its Northern California regional office in San Leandro. Sited on an 18-acre parcel, the company will occupy 162,000 sf of the 288,000-sf Fairway Properties facility. U.S. Air Conditioning Distributors, based in the City of Industry, Calif., is the world’s largest privately owned HVAC company.
Toyota has completed the South Campus Expansion of its North American Headquarters in Torrance, Calif. Designed by LPA, the South Campus consists of five 3-story buildings totalling 625,000 sf and houses financial and customer services groups, dining, training facilities, and an event courtyard. Sustainable design was an integral part of the project. With certification on Earth Day of 2003, the South Campus became the largest LEED Gold-rated project in the country, and features the largest privately-owned rooftop photovoltaic panel system installation in the nation.
Daedong Industrial Co., a South Korean tractor manufacturer, will relocate its North American headquarters from Wilson to Wendell, N.C. Construction of the planned 183,000-sf office and warehouse facility will be managed by project general contractor R.N. Rouse & Co. of Goldsboro. Slated for completion in winter 2004, the facility will employ up to 45 workers. Daedong, maker of the orange Kioti compact diesel tractors, will receive, assemble, finish, and distribute tractor components from the new facility.
Tyco Healthcare Retail Group will occupy 608,000-sf of the 818,000-sf former Amazon.com warehouse facility in Henry County, Ga. The facilities in the Greenwood Industrial Park, Building 8 will replace Tyco’s 227,600-sf Atlanta distribution center when the healthcare products manufacturing firm moves to the new space in September 2003.
Toyodabo Manufacturing Kentucky LLC is planning to construct a $9.8 million manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Ky. The facility will manufacture molded headliners for the automobile industry and is expected to begin production in 2004. The company is a division of Kariya, Japan-based Toyoda Boshoku Corp. Toyadabo's primary customer is Toyota Motor Corp.
South Korea-based Samlip Industrial Co. is planning a new 130,000-sf facility in Alexander City, Ala., for the manufacture of automotive lighting parts and systems. The $53-million facility will be sited on 50 acres in the Alexander City Airport Industrial Park and will employ 400 workers. The automotive supplier will begin construction on the facility in August 2003 with occupancy slated for September 2004.
