Industry News

Siemens Electromechanical Components Inc. opened a new three-story, 100,000-sf headquarters in July at the Westpark Office Center. R&D, customer service reps, and corporate executives are housed at the new facility constructed by Group VI Corp. of Stockbridge.

Hebrew College will relocate its 2,000-student campus from Brookline, Mass., to a 7-acre site in Newton. $26 million of construction is scheduled for completion by 2001, including academic and administrative buildings, a student center and library. A new dormitory will be built at a later date.

Tellabs Inc. is considering expansion of its facilities in Massachusetts. The Lisle, Ill.-based telephone equipment company is headquartered in Burlington, but has received a proposal from Boston properties Inc. to build two buildings in Andover totaling over 200,000 sf.

Serono Laboratories Inc., based in Norwell, Mass., plans to consolidate its offices and labs at a new $20 million, 200,000-sf headquarters that will straddle the town line between Hingham and Rockland. A.W. Perry Inc. of Boston is the developer on the project. Construction has not yet begun, but move-in is scheduled for late 2000.

Serono Labs is a drug-development company and a subsidiary of Ares-Serono Group SA of Geneva, Switz.

Cisco Systems Inc. is in the process of obtaining zoning for a planned 2.3 million-sf office and R&D facility on 153 acres in the Alviso community of North San Jose. About 10 buildings are planned, with construction occuring in two phases: 1.6 million sf in phase one, and 600,000 sf in phase two.

Groundbreaking, contingent upon approval by the San Jose City Council, could begin in late spring or early summer 2000, with occupancy 16 months later. Construction costs are estimated at $575 million.