Industry News

Bayer Corp. is developing Buildings 80 and 82, a $35-million warehouse and pharmaceutical packaging facility. Developed on a 14.5-acre brownfield site in Berkeley, the 150,000-sf project will be built by DPR Construction of Redwood City. Architects on the project team include EQE International and GEZ Architects, as well as Jacobs Engineering. Construction began in June 2001; planned completion in February 2002.

Highland Hospital has selected RBB Architects Inc. to design a five-story critical care building. The Oakland facility, which will be built by Bellevue, Wa.-based MA Mortenson Co., includes a six-story parking structure. The $63-million, 325,000-sf building began construction in November of 1999 and is slated for completion in July of 2002.

Delta Search Labs may sign a lease for a 50,000 sf facility in Cambridge's Kendall Square, adjacent to its present 15,000-sf basement location. Delta's current operations include office space, a supercomputer, and a visualization cave.  Over the next three years Delta plans to develop a $300-million collaborative supercomputer laboratory including wind tunnel, robotic, photonic, and prototype lab facilities in the new building. The lab will be staffed with experts and available for research to firms in a variety of industries.

Stanford University is planning to build a state-of-the-art book storage facility on 5.8 acres recently purchased in the National Business Park in Livermore.

Novartis AG will lease the entire 255,000-sf Technology Square building and 150,000 sf nearby to establish the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Europe's third-largest drug manufacturer, will invest $255-million in the worldwide research headquarters that will eventually house 900 scientists.