Industry News

Kennesaw State University's Coles College of Business opened the Center for Professional Selling last fall after over two years of planning. Funded by $250,000 in corporate commitments, the Center is nearing completion and will include a conference room, state-of-the-art sales labs, and offices for student role-playing. Technologies will include training tools such as digital video cameras to capture practice sales pitches, which could be viewed by prospective employers on the Internet.

Genesys Telecommunication Laboratories Inc. is relocating its 400-employee San Francisco headquarters to the Pacific Plaza in nearby Daly City. The nine-floor, 360,000-sf Pacific Plaza is nearing completion, developed by Summit Mack/Cali Associates. As an anchor tenant, Genesys will occupy 13,000 sf on four floors including the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors. Genesys is a maker of software connecting computers, databases, telephones, and the Internet.

Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. is considering a consolidation of its Research Triangle Park offices with a move to 85,000 sf of new office space in the Triangle. The search for new facilities was prompted by Lockheed Martin's acquisition in late 2001 of OAO Corp., which also has offices in the Triangle. Both firms provide the federal government with information technology solutions. 

 North Carolina State University is planning a $65-million, 250-room hotel, conference center and golf course at its Centennial Campus to enhance research and academic programs at the University. The school has filed papers to form a charitable organization, the N.C. State Conference Center LLC, which would enable the center to operate free of state and federal income taxes. Hines Interests of Chicago is providing construction consultation on the project, which is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2004.

 Plans for the Silver Spring Innovation Center business incubator are being developed by Montgomery County and developer JBG Cos. Housing up to 15 young bioinformatics and information technology companies, the 12,000-sf facility is slated to open in 2003. The incubator is part of a larger mixed-use residential and commercial development including approximately 100,000 sf on the 3-acre site, possibly as a multi-floor facility.