Industry News

The Universityof Maryland, Baltimore is planning the 750,000-sf Health Sciences Research Park in West Baltimore. The park will be comprised of as many as six new research buildings, the first of which will total between 80,000 sf and 120,000 sf and cost between $15- and $20-million. Completion is slated for December 2004.

VWR International, a subsidiary of the German Merck KGaA group, is expanding with a move from 17,000 sf in Marlborough to 70,000 sf in Franklin, Mass. The Westchester-based company distributes chemicals and other lab-related equipment to researchers and life science companies.

Semiconductor equipment maker Brooks Automation has opened a new 18,000-sf cleanroom at its headquarters in Chelmsford, Mass. The facility will consolidate operations previously sited in Billerica; Longmont, Colo.; Mountain View, Calif.; and Valencia, Calif.

Agnes Scott College contracted achitectural firm Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott to design its new $36.5-million Science Center in Decatur, Ga. The 104,000-sf facility contains classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, and a science reading room. Research Facilities Design was selected to provide laboratory design services.

The Brooks City-Base conversion project in San Antonio is progressing with the lease of over 26,000-sf by Earth Tech, a global provider of environmental services as well as engineering, architectural, construction, and infrastructure development. Earth Tech, a subsidiary of Tyco International Ltd., will occupy the building that formerly housed the Base Exchange in September of 2003. Earth Tech was recently selected by the Environmental Protection Agency to handle environmental response and remediation work for Region 6, which covers Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.