Industry News

 Bank of America, headquartered in Dallas, has awarded Trammell Crow a multiyear, multimillion dollar contract to handle leasing and management for the bank nationwide, which encompasses 40 million sf of real estate in 23 states. This is the largest real estate outsourcing contract in Trammel Crow’s history, and will cover everything from HVAC maintenance to site locations for new branch banks.

Siemens Medical Systems, based in Iselin, N.J., is expanding at its 20,000-sf service and training center in Cary. The addition of a four-story training center and a two-story parking deck will bring the total space to 65,600 sf. Completion of construction is anticipated by the end of 2001. The company is a subsidiary of Siemens AG, the electronics company based in Germany.

The Department of the Interior’s 1.3 million-sf 1930s-era building is scheduled for  modernization. The General Services Administration has awarded Grunley Construction of Rockville, Md., a $18.6 million construction contract for phase one of the project—HVAC central plant work on several levels, some demolition and new construction in part of the building’s northernmost wing. The building currently accommodates approximately 2,500 employees. Completion of the entire project is anticipated in late 2008.

Scott Adams, cartoon creator of the Dilbert comic strip, is working with design firm IDEO of San Francisco to develop “Dilbert’s Ultimate Cubicle”—an almost office-sized prototype for a workspace comprised of orange and white translucent plastic modules. The modules each perform a different function—file storage, cooler, coat hanger, fish tank—and could be configured by employees to create their own ideal workspace.