Industry News

Glenview, Ill.-based Illinois Tool Works will construct a $10-million manufacturing facility in Charlotte, N.C., for the production of commercial cooking equipment. The plant will be sited in Trinity Partners’ Westlake Industrial Park.

Albany College of Pharmacy has purchased a 56,000-sf building in Albany, N.Y., for three million dollars. Formerly a senior residence owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, the facility will accommodate student housing and offices for admissions and financial aid. The building is sited near The Charitable Leadership Foundation’s $60 million, 150,000-sf Center for Medical Science where the College of Pharmacy has additional operations.

The University of Wisconsin Medical School has contracted Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum to design a $265-million Interdisciplinary Research Complex on the school’s Madison campus. The first $135-million phase of the project consists of 437,600 sf of laboratory, vivarium, imaging, and gross anatomy space and is slated for occupancy in 2008. The facility will accommodate interdisciplinary health science research and promote lab-to-clinic research. Zimmerman Design Group of Milwaukee is also on the project team.    

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is planning a new $22.5-million student housing complex. Comprised of 315 apartment units, the project is slated for completion in August 2005. Additionally, a $9.45-million parking garage will be constructed at UT San Antonio; completion is scheduled for March 2005.

H&R Block has selected Houston-based Hines to develop and manage its new 500,000-sf headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. Approximately 1,200 employees will be relocated to the new facility from the company’s Main Street headquarters and other leased locations when the new building is ready for occupancy in summer of 2006. A second 250,000-sf expansion phase of the headquarters is planned in 2013. The project team includes general contractor JE Dunn Construction Co. and architect CDFM2.