Industry News

Level 3 Communications Inc. is putting the finishing touches on its new $100 million data center in Needham. Level 3 plans to initially occupy approximately 80,000 sf of the huge 320,000-sf facility. The state-of-the-art structure’s back-up features include wiring for 13,8000 volts of power; a 400,000-gallon buried water tank for the cooling system; and triple redundancies in many of the building systems. Construction manager for the project is Sullivan & McLaughlin Cos. of Boston.

The Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae) has plans to downsize its headquarters, leaving its current 400,000-sf building for a 200,000-sf  facility to be built next door. Boggs & Partners, working with the Wiehe Design Group, will design the headquarters. Interior architecture will be performed by Blue Chair Design. The civil engineer is Urban Engineering and Associates. The scheduled groundbreaking is in October 2002; completion is anticipated late in 2003 or early 2004.

Northeastern University has opened the doors of the Molecular Biology Institute, a biotech incubator to focus on applied neuropharmacogenomics. The university has also launched a fund-raising campaign for construction of a new DNA mircroarray facility.

Santa Clara University is planning a three-story, 82,000-sf facility as the new home of the Leavey School of Business. Funded by a $15 million pledge, the new building will house the science, technology and society center, several conference rooms, and will consolidate all MBA and executive curriculum business classrooms.

The University of Califonia's government studies externship program has now occupied its new 176,270-sf Washington facility. The 11-story, $30-million dollar building was designed by architect Einhorn Yaffee Prescott and houses dormitory space for 300 students, classrooms and office space. Managing the project was Mark G. Anderson Consultants with Tompkins as general contractor and Clark performing foundation work.