Industry News

Toyota has completed the South Campus Expansion of its North American Headquarters in Torrance, Calif. Designed by LPA, the South Campus consists of five 3-story buildings totalling 625,000 sf and houses financial and customer services groups, dining, training facilities, and an event courtyard. Sustainable design was an integral part of the project. With certification on Earth Day of 2003, the South Campus became the largest LEED Gold-rated project in the country, and features the largest privately-owned rooftop photovoltaic panel system installation in the nation.

Daedong Industrial Co., a South Korean tractor manufacturer, will relocate its North American headquarters from Wilson to Wendell, N.C. Construction of the planned 183,000-sf office and warehouse facility will be managed by project general contractor R.N. Rouse & Co. of Goldsboro. Slated for completion in winter 2004, the facility will employ up to 45 workers. Daedong, maker of the orange Kioti compact diesel tractors, will receive, assemble, finish, and distribute tractor components from the new facility.

The Bullis School has opened its $8-million Blair Family Center for the Arts in Potomac, Md. Designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, the center includes classrooms, performing and visual arts teaching spaces, and a 750-seat auditorium and theater. The two-story lobby accommodates a reception area for a student art work gallery. Studios for painting, printmaking, music, and sculpture are housed in the teaching wing of the building, as well as a multimedia lab. The Bullis School is a college preparatory school.

The University of Notre Dame has completed the $5-million Chemistry Research Center in Notre Dame, Ind. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the 16,000-sf laboratory extension to the chemistry and physics complex accommodates nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging equipment for state-of-the-art molecular studies. The sophisticated design of the new chemistry facility features high bay space for the NMR equipment, four faculty research labs, and ten faculty offices.

Cessna has contracted Wichita-based The Law Co. to build its new $60-million Citation Service Center in Wichita. Doubling the capacity of the current building, the 447,259-sf facility will house component repair and overhaul shops, multiple aircraft service bays, a customer business center, and office space. Designed by McCluggage Van Sickle & Perry of Wichita, the project is located on a 124-acre site leased to Cessna by the Wichita Airport Authority. Construction is expected to take approximately 18 months, reaching completion in the fourth quarter of 2004.