California State University Hayward has joined with Geographic Network Affiliates International in a public-private partnership for the construction of an Internet switching center on six acres at the Hayward campus. Phase one of construction may be begin as early as April 2001 on a 180,000-sf facility to house network equipment and servers, with completion in fall.
Public Square Tech Center--a one million-sf high tech redevelopment project under way in Cleveland at the site of the historic May Company Building--will become a cutting-edge mixed-use center that will include technology uses, office, retail, and parking. The building offers over 100 watts per sf of power, multiple fiber providers, heavy floor loads (up to 170 pounds per sf), and high ceilings. Potential tenants include web hosting firms, switch facilities, and data centers.
Sun Microsystems intends to purchase 11.8 acres in Dublin, Calif., for development of a new campus. The proposal submitted to Alameda county includes a bid of $43 million for the county's remaining surplus land, providing up to 750,000 sf of office space for as many as 3,000 employees.
Union Station Telecom Center is under construction at the site of a former warehouse in northeast Washington. Construction began in summer 2000 to restore the six-story, 440,000-sf structure in preparation for tenant build-out.
ONI Systems, a high-tech company based in San Jose, Calif., will locate its Lightwave Design Center at Nottingham Hall, a 105,000-sf building under construction in the Imperial Office Park near Research Triangle Park. ONI plans to employ 150 people doing product development in 54,000 sf—the top two floors—of the facility, which will also serve as a customer support center for ONI’s East Coast clients. Clancy & Theys is the general contractor for the building, which is scheduled for completion in spring 2001.
The University of Maryland recently launched eDorm—an electronic dormitory in Garrett Hall designed and equipped by Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Avaya (formerly the Enterprise Networks Group of Lucent Technologies) that houses 21 undergraduate students participating in the university’s Hinman Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities (CEO’s) Program. EDorm gives students in the CEOs Program easy access to communications technologies to build their own businesses, such as desktop videoconferencing, multimedia messaging, high-speed data connections, voice over the Internet, and wireless roaming.
IBM has plans to increase its presence in the telecommunications services field with the building of the Network Innovation Laboratories—three labs where several IBM units will work with other telecom companies to research and test new services: wireless solutions, broadband delivery, Internet telephony and data centers. By March 2001, IBM expects to have built one lab in Raleigh, and one each in France and Asia.
America Online (AOL) has expansion plans in Northern Virginia. Construction was expected to start in late 2000 on a new $555-million technology center in Gainesville, similar to the one AOL has in Manassas. Both are in Prince William County, Va. At the company’s headquarters in Dulles, an $86-million expansion is under way with two new buildings where 1,200 employees will be housed. One of the buildings is nearing completion.
Palm Inc., maker of handheld computing devices, will begin first-phase construction in November on a new $130 million corporate headquarters in North San Jose. Webcor Builders has been selected as general contractor for the mammoth 1.6 million-sf project that will accommodate ten four- to seven-story buildings including a common-use facility and three parking garages. The first phase of construction is expected to cost approximately $50 million.
Celarix Inc. has relocated from its 6,000-sf building in Boston to a new 20,000-sf headquarters in Cambridge designed by Cambridge-based Perry and Radford Architects. Unusual amenities in the building include a "sleeproom" and a "playroom" for employees. Celarix specializes in software and online services for the transportation industry. The new facility was built by Elaine Construction Co. of Newton, Mass.
Planning and Designing is underway for UC Merced, a new 2,000-acre campus located in California. This new $250-million research university will use digital technology to create an educational network for students in the San Joaquin Valley. Completion is scheduled for 2004.
The National Fire and Protection Agency (NFPA) has partnered with Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) and the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) to build a set of Consensus Codes--a new set of codes for the built environment. Their goal is to provide safety officials with a new consistent and compatible set of codes by the year 2003. As part of the Consensus Code project NFPA also plans to devise a NFPA Building Code.
Global TeleSystems (GTS) is building a 55,000-sf data center in Loudoun County to service Internet companies. Completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2000. Based in McLean, Va., GTS is the U.S. division of the British company.
Dell Computer Corp., based in Round Rock, Texas, is building a 300,000-sf computer manufacturing plant and a 300,000-sf facility for the company's sales and tech support operations at a site near Nashville International Airport. Completion is anticipated in summer 2000.
Cisco Systems Inc., based in San Jose, Calif., anticipates employing 10,000 workers by 2004 at its campus in Research Triangle Park. An announcement is expected in May concerning the development of a new wireless R&D division at the site that may be as large as its Telephony Internet Services Unit, one of the four largest at that location.
