Industry News

German firm ORAFOL USA will construct a 20,000-sf facility in the Interstate Centre industrial park in Bryan County, Ga., to house its U.S. headquarters and first manufacturing operations outside of Germany. Slated for completion in 2006, the facility represents a $45 million investment over two development phases. The project will create sixty new jobs by year-end 2008. ORAFOL USA, a subsidiary of Oranienberg-based ORAFOL Klebetechnik GmbH, produces PVC films for use in reflective films, adhesive tapes, and graphics products.  

Site preparation has begun on Target Corp. 's new $110-million retail distribution center in De Kalb, Ill. The 1.5 million-sf facility will initially employ 500 workers and will potentially double that count over the next few years.

Construction has begun on the $50.5-million Morgan Hill Courthouse and Justice Agencies Complex in Morgan Hill, Calif. The 73,000-sf, two-story plus basement Superior Court building will house a court clerk's office, six courtrooms, jury assembly and deliberation spaces, and day-holding detention spaces. The adjacent one-story, 17,000-sf Justice Agencies facility will accommodate offices for the probation department, county district attorney, and public defender. Occupancy is slated for August 2006.

Texas-based Dell Inc. has awarded the site grading contract for its new 500,000-sf computer manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem, N.C., to Blythe Development.  Construction is expected to begin by the end of January 2005.

Genentech has signed a lease for 780,000 sf in South San Francisco, which may be the largest single lease ever penned in the northern California Bay Area. Developer Slough Estates will construct the three-, four-, and eight-story life science facilities in two phases over the next four years. Construction cost is estimated at approximately $325 million. The project will consist of roughly 40 percent office and 60 percent laboratory space.