Industry News

Purdue   University is planning the Birck Nanotechnology Center on its West Lafayette, Indiana campus. As the cornerstone of Purdue’s Discovery Park development, the facility will house state-of-the-art cleanrooms and specialized labs for research and development. Equipment will include atomic-force microscopes, molecular beam epitaxy technologies for advanced computers and electronics, and chemical vapor deposition machines. Construction is expected to begin in March 2003 and reach completion in early 2005.

Bio-Hydration Research Lab, the San-Diego-based manufacturer of Penta water, has leased 110,881 sf in Carlsbad. The facility will house office, research, and Penta water manufacturing operations.

The 22,000-sf Regional Firearms Training Facility was recently completed in Otay Mesa for the Countyof San Diego. The center, completed by San Diego-based JVB Construction Management,  houses administrative offices, five classrooms, and a 350-seat auditorium.

CNA Insurance will relocate its 255 employees, currently housed in a total of 100,000-sf of offices in San Bruno and San Francisco, to 55,000 sf on the sixth floor of the 482,000-sf Foundry Square II. The move is expected to occur in February of 2003.

Bio-Rad Laboratories recently broke ground on a 140,000-sf, $20-million facility on its 70-acre campus in the North Shore Business Park in Hercules. Slated for occupancy in fall of 2003, the facility will house R&D, office, and manufacturing space to support Bio-Rad's planned workforce and product line expansion, such as microarray technologies and newborn screening tests. The building will also support growth in the areas of proteomics and functional genomics.