Industry News

Eckerd Drug is expanding its distribution operations with a move into a 415,000-sf facility in the Fairless Hills' Penn Warner Industrial Park. The building houses 14,000-sf of office space. Substantial renovations to the single-story building will be completed by owner Equity Industrial Partners prior to Eckerd's occupation of the building in the fourth quarter of 2002. Eckerd will maintain its 450,000-sf of leased space between the Bucks County Industrial Park in Langhorne and Morrisville.

Northwestern University is developing Phase One of the Gladys & Arthur Pancoe Life Sciences Pavilion, a new 88,000-sf research facility housing the Center for Experimental Animal Research on the university's Evanston campus. The project will accommodate research for the University and Northwestern Healthcare’s Evanston Hospital. Designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership of Los Angeles, the four-story building with basement will house flexible research labs, faculty offices, vivarium, auditorium, and a café.

The University of California, Berkeley is planning to initiate construction on the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) in the first quarter of 2003. The $60-million, 130,000-sf facility will be sited on the engineering portion of the campus.

The U.S. Navy has completed a $2.7-million cleanroom used to repair and refurbish hydraulic components for reuse in naval aircraft. The 8,500-sf facility was designed by Architects Larson/Carpenter of San Diego and built by construction company Soltek Pacific, also of San Diego.

Toyota Industries Corp. and automotive parts-maker Denso plan to build a 152-acre manufacturing plant near Pendergrass, Ga., comprised of between 200,000- to 400-000 sf. The facility will initially employ 150 workers when it opens in 2005. Toyota Industries Corp. is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp.