Industry News

Joplin, Mo.-based Tamko Roofing Products and Canadian firm IKO Industries are partnering on a $100-million production facility in Clarksville , Tenn. Sited in the Clarksville-Montgomery County Corporate Business Park , the joint venture is called MW/MB LLC. The plant will manufacture wet chopped fiberglass strands to be used in roofing material.  Construction began in April 2004; an official groundbreaking ceremony will be celebrated in mid-August 2004. The plant will be operational by early 2006.

Bruno Independent Living Aids is planning a $5.65 million, 100,000-sf expansion of its Oconomowoc, Wisc., facility. Bruno produces power chairs, scooters, vehicle lifts, and physical disability aids.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is planning to construct a $500-million manufacturing center in Shenzhen , China. Construction on the plant is slated to begin in late 2004. Production of 3.5” disk drives will begin at the new facility in the fourth quarter of 2005.

Denton Regional Medical Center broke ground in May 2004 on the 13,500-sf Day Surgery Center in Denton, Texas. Slated for completion in early 2005, the $7-million facility is sited on a two-acre plot adjacent to Denton Regional’s existing hospital. The facility will provide space for colonoscopies, gall bladder removal, tonsillectomies, and gastrointestinal procedures. Developed by Ambulatory Surgery Center, a subsidiary of Irving-based HCA, the facility is being constructed by Thomas H. Byrne of Fort Worth.

Insurance firm Geico will construct a 250,000-sf operations center in Uniland Development’s CrossPoint Business Park in the Amherst area of Buffalo, N.Y. Construction is slated to begin in late 2004 or early 2005.