Industry News

RTKL Associates Inc. has been awarded the design contract for the development of Fortress Development Company's (previously  DataCentersNow) new 425-acre data center and office community that will be located in Loudoun County, Virginia. The site will house 2.4 million sf of office space and 860,000 sf of mission critical data center space. Construction for phase one of the 10-year project, which will be completed in two phases, is slated to begin later this year.

Cell Genesys, based in Foster City, Calif., plans to develop a 35,000-sf manufacturing facility in Memphis for the production of the GVAX cancer vaccine. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2002.  The company also plans to relocate its headquarters from Foster City to a new 280,000-sf facility in South San Francisco. In addition, a $60-million, 41,000-sf manufacturing plant is under construction in Hayward, Calif.

Rib-X Pharmaceuticals is planning a new 26,400-sf lab and office facility at New Haven’s 300 George Biotech Laboratory complex. Jung/Brannen Associates, based in Boston, has completed architectural design for the structure, which will accommodate research, a computational chemistry lab, facilities for wet-lab chemistry, and administrative offices.

The Los Angeles Regional Crime Laboratory Facility Authority has selected the architectural team of HarleyEllis of Detroit and their Los Angeles affiliate Fields Deveraux Architects Engineers to program the new Los Angeles Regional Forensics Science Crime Laboratory.

Merck & Co. is planning a new 300,000-gsf biotechnology research facility on the campus of Emmanuel College in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood. Designated as Merck Research Laboratories-Boston, the structure will have twelve stories above ground and six below, and will house scientists, support staff, and administrative personnel when it opens in 2004.