Industry News

Eli Lilly decided in May to locate its $425-million insulin manufacturing facility at the 124-acre Innovation@ Prince William business park in northern Virginia. The Innovation is focused on attracting biotechnology, bioinformatics, and forensic bioscience companies. The Eli Lily project, which will formulate, fill and package all forms of Humalog and Humulin insulin, is the company's first U.S. manufacturing plant outside Indiana. The plant will bring over 700 high-tech jobs to the region when it is fully operational in 2007. 

Public-broadcasting station WGBH-TV is expected to close in early May on Brighton Landing’s 181,000-sf west building. Acquisition of the seven-story facility will allow the 50-year-old station to expand its radio, television, interactive and educational activities. WGBH will occupy the second floor and floors four through seven. As the facility is still in shell condition, phased move-in will take two to five years. An additional four- or five-story facility will be constructed across the street. A third-floor walkway may connect the buildings.

United Parcel Service  (UPS) is searching for a new site for Fritz, its new commodity trading division which provides logistics support and freight service support worldwide. Currently located in 180,000-sf of warehouse and office space in the Southridge industrial park in Atlanta, Fritz must relocate due to airport expansion. UPS is searching for a 100,000-sf to 125,000-sf industrial facility in the same general area as its current location to facilitate airport and interstate freeway access.

Raleigh Community Hospital has awarded a $140,000 contract to Commercial Mechanical Inc. to install a web-based heating and cooling system.

The 444,000-sf Boston Tech Center is being retrofitted as a lab building by Cabot, Cabot & Forbes of New England. Originally designed as a telecommunications hotel, the facility will finish construction as a shell biomedical building and is projected to become a hub for lab companies. The three-story building will house two levels of ground-floor parking to accommodate 650 vehicles. A 40,000-sf glass atrium will be located on the second and third floors.