Industry News

Microsoft has dedicated its first facility in Northern Virginia, the $25-million Innovation & Technology Center. Located at Reston Town Center, the four-story, 63,000-sf facility can accommodate 1000 employees and includes 25 conference rooms, a technology lab, a government solutions center, and offices for over 100 Microsoft workers. The center will eventually house an executive briefing center and secured facilities for classified meetings with intelligence agencies.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. is planning an $8-million emergency department replacement project at the South Fulton Medical Center. The renovation is part of Tenet's $30-million capital improvement plan for the hospital, which includes a $2-million renovation of the HVAC systems, new cardiovascular facilities, and a renovated women's services department.  

NFL Films's new 200,000-sf headquarters and production facility will initiate its first year of service with the 2002 football season. Designed by Russ Berger Design Group of Dallas and Garrison Architects of Bala Cynwyd, the project team also included the Philadelphia office of The Staubach Company as development manager and construction manager W.S. Cumby & Son of Swarthmore.

The University of Georgia is planning to build a $10-million, 33,000-sf commercial pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at the University's Riverbend Research Village in Athens. Designed by Lockwood Green of Spartanburg, S.C., the project's construction will be managed by Atkins Hanscomb Faithful & Gould of Atlanta. The building will include research labs, classrooms, offices, and bioprocessing and manufacturing space for solid oral dosage medicines. The project is slated for groundbreaking in May 2003.

United Parcel Service has completed its new world-class central hub facility at the Louisville International Airport, a $1-billion, seven-year project that more than doubles the size of the company's existing facility. Totalling over 4 million sf, the expansion enables UPS to process approximately 300,000 packages per hour, a 50% productivity improvement. The terminal's infrastructure can support an increase to 500,000 packages per hour. The facility now includes 44 airplane loading docks and more than 17,000 conveyor belts.