Industry News

The Memphis Cook Convention Center is engaged in a $93-million expansion slated for completion in spring 2003. The expanded center will total 250,000 sf and will feature the new 2,100-seat Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. A 35,000-sf exhibit hall and a 28,000-sf ballroom are included in the project. The center was originally constructed in 1974 with 21 meeting rooms, an executive conference center and a 125,000-sf column-free exhibit hall. The recent 80,000-sf expansion includes an additional five meeting rooms.

Sysco Food Services of San Antonio LP, a subsidiary of Sysco Corp. of Houston, broke ground in December 2002 on a 110,000-sf expansion of its 310,000-sf San Antonio warehouse and distribution center. The addition, which will add storage for dry, refrigerated and frozen foods, is slated for completion by October 2003.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will occupy a second building at Station Place in Washington. The lease of up to 360,000 sf, to deliver in 2005, will bring the government agency's facilities to over 1 million sf. Developed by Louis Dreyfus Properties Group, the headquarters project includes the previous lease of 650,000 sf slated for occupancy in mid-2004. SEC's total occupancy at the Station Place site will comprise 1.5-million-sf in three buildings.

Loudon Hospital in Leesburg, Va., is engaged in a 9,400-sf renovation of its Cornwall campus that will add a 16-bed emergency department. The $2.1-million project, slated for completion in mid-January 2003, is designed to give the hospital the flexibility to convert at least an additional 20 beds for emergency care in the event of a terrorist attack. The two-building Cornwall campus, originally constructed in 1912, may be renamed the Western Loudoun Medical Center.

Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) in Annapolis, Md., is engaged in a $13-million expansion and renovation of its two-story Cancer Center. Project expenses involve $4-million in construction costs and $9-million for new technology, including NOVALIS, which utilizes imaging and targeting software to direct an energy beam delivery system for the destruction of tumors. The first floor of the center will open in January 2003. AAMC is also developing a new radiosurgery technology program.