Manufacturing

S.C. Johnson & Son, a privately held Wisconsin company, has selected contractor Simmons Vedder & Co. of Austin, Texas, to build a 500,000-sf distribution warehouse in Atlanta. The $14-million S.C. Johnson Wax facility will be the second warehouse built by Simmons Vedder for the company; the first was a 400,700-sf distribution hub located at SouthCreek Distribution Center 1 in South Fulton. S.C. Johnson makes products including Drano, Windex, Raid, and Ziploc bags.

Serologicals Corp. has awarded CRB Builders LLC of St. Louis the $26-million design/build contract for a new plant in Lawrence, Mo. Most of the design work for the project will be provided by the St. Louis office of Kansas City-based Clark Richardson & Biskup Consulting Engineers. The $28-million plant will manufacture its EX-CYTE serum-free cell culture supplement for use in the biotechnology industry. Slated for completion in the first half of 2004, the 45,000-sf facility will be sited on 12.5 acres.

NVR Building Products will house its product manufacturing division in a 131,000 sf facility on fifty acres in Delanco, N.J. The building will be constructed by Charlotte, N.C.-based real estate developer The Keith Corp. The $12-million project is slated for completion by November 2003. NVR Building Products is a subsidiary of NVR Inc., a homebuilding and mortgage banking company based in McLean, Va.

Entegris Inc., a Chaska-based manufacturer of products to protect semiconductors during shipment, has expanded manufacturing capabilities at its Bad Rapaneau, Germany facility to make both 150 mm and 200 mm Ultrapak wafer carriers.

Chief Container Corp., a maker and distributor of corrugated cardboard boxes, is nearing completion of a 260,000-sf facility north of Atlanta in Bartow County. Chief Container plans to relocate from its current location, a 144,000-sf bulk warehouse in Atlanta, in April 2003.

United Technical Industries is relocating tool-and-die manufacturing subsidiaries Advanced Coatings and Unitech  from two Northeast Kansas City plants to a new facility in Lee's Summit, Mo. The companies will be housed in a new 40,000-sf building which began construction in June 2002 and is now nearing completion. General contractor for the $3-million-plus project is Triad Construction Co. of Kansas City.

Network Appliance is constructing a $2.4-million on-site natural gas fired power plant on the roof of its San Jose research and development building. The plant will supply 80% of the data storage manufacturer's electricity needs when it becomes operational in March 2003. The project was partially funded by $800,000 from the state of California's Self-Generation Project. The plant will produce 1.5 megawatts; Pacific Gas & Electric will supply the remainder of the building's 1.8-megawatt peak energy usage.

The Greater Kelly Development Authority (GKDA) will develop six office/warehouse buildings on 40 acres at KellyUSA in San Antonio as the Billy Mitchell Business Center. The $28-million, 513,600-sf project aims to attract industrial firms including new vendors for Toyota Motor Corp. Two of the facilities will comprise 83,700 sf each, with the remaining four buildings at 86,550 sf each. GKDA plans to offer tenants smaller leases of between 5,000 sf and 15,000 sf.

Atlanta-based Leeman Architectural Woodwork, a maker of custom displays and counters, will consolidate three separate Fulton County facilities with a move to a planned 350,000-sf manufacturing distribution facility in Powder Springs. Total building cost is approximated at $22 per square foot. The facility is slated for completion in January 2004.

Insulet Corp. has contracted North Attleborough-based Hodess Building Co. to construct a design/build project converting existing lab space into unclassified medical device manufacturing clean space in Beverly, Mass.

Sulzer Mitroflow Corp. has selected KTEC Cleanroom Systems of Round Rock, Texas to design, fabricate, and install a 10,000-sf cleanroom in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Replacing an existing operation in Richmond, B.C., the $1.7-million facility will act as a manufacturing plant for artificial heart valves.

Landini USA, a division of The ARGO Industrial Group in Fabbrico, Italy, has leased 18,280 sf in the 104,180-sf Newpoint Commons in Lawrenceville, Ga. Landini, a seller and distributor of Italian agricultural tractors, is the fifth-largest tractor manufacturer in the world.

Enplas Inc., a Japan-based manufacturer of plastic parts and products, plans to expand its operations with the $2.3-million purchase of a 47,000-sf office building in Georgia. The facility was previously used as a multi-tenant office/warehouse.

The Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania will renovate an 80,000-sf facility in Pittsburgh to for potential robotics tenants. Located in the state-designated Lawrenceville enterprise zone, the facility is sited at One Chocolate Square with desirable proximity to the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute cluster. The two-story facility will house up to 11 tenants and create up to 100 jobs.

Nioxin Research Laboratories, an Atlanta-based hair care products manufacturer, is leasing 195,375 sf at Westfork Distribution Center in Lithia Springs, Ga., for its new headquarters. The 380,700-sf Westfork development, owned by Industrial Developments International, is currently under construction and slated for completion in February. Nioxin will consolidate 140,000 sf in two Atlanta facilities with the move, which will allow Nioxin to house its manufacturing and administrative operations in a single facility.