Industry News

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.

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.

San Antonio-based pharmaceutical company Ilex Oncology expected to close in late May 2002 on a lease of 32,000 sf of newly refurbished Cambridge lab space. Ilex, currently leasing a smaller Boston space, plans to relocate in late fall to the Cambridge facility. The new lab is located in a 128,000-sf, four-story office building converted for lab use being finished by property owner and developer The Beal Cos. of Boston.

Clark University has selected Waltham-based Genesis Planners to design a new 30,000-sf field house and athletic fields at Granger Field in Worcester. Including locker rooms and training facilities for outdoor athletic teams and recreational sports, the $7.5-million facility features a 16,000-sf multipurpose practice space.