Industry News

San Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has completed a 5,000-sf fuel contamination research and testing laboratory. The facility houses over 4,200-sf of lab space and 12 automated test cells, one dedicated to hybrid fuel cell testing, two to diesel, and nine to gasoline, enabling a greater flexibility in the number of systems and components that can be tested at one time.

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC) will soon complete a 44,000-sf expansion that will include a nucleic acid testing laboratory enabling earlier detection of Hepatitis C and HIV. The testing process will provide over 80 hospitals and clinics with the highest quality of blood available. The $10-million expansion will increase STBTC's headquarters to 125,000-sf and will include expanded facilities for umbilical blood storage.

APL Logistics has selected Catellus Development Corp. of San Francisco to develop its planned three-building, 992,000-sf warehouse distribution complex in Douglas County, Ga. Slated for completion in 2004, the project could expand up to 1.3-million-sf. Catellus is also developing a 346,000-sf facility for APL in Romeoville, Ill.

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.