Industry News

A $38 million expansion of the Leominster, Mass. campus of HealthAlliance Hospitals Inc. was recently completed by The George B.H. Macomber Company, a Boston-base construction firm. Designed by DiGiorgio Associates, the project includes a 104,000-sf addition to the hospital consisting of a new main entrance, radiology, surgical, critical care services, and outpatient area. The building houses both medical-surgical and post-operative facilities, complete with an admitting area.

 Merix Bioscience Inc. has allocated $39.5 million of private financing to complete a 20,000-sf cell processing facility that will support the company's progress into Phase I clinical trials for its cancer vaccine.

 Semiconductor manufacturer Extreme Devices is expanding by opening a bigger chip fabrication plant with adjoining offices in Southeast Austin. The combined 43,200-sf facility is a significant expansion from the firm's previous 6,000-sf location. The fabrication plant has cost Extreme Devices less than $10 million to build.

Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. is considering locating a $125-million manufacturing plant in the 9,600-acre Alliance industrial park in Fort Worth. Developed by Ross Perot Jr.'s Hillwood venture, the site would house 180,000-sf of manufacturing and 35,000-sf of office space for Siemens' new stationary fuel cells division. Employing up to 500 workers initially, the plant could eventually expand to 430,000 sf of manufacturing and 70,000 sf of office space in the next three or four years. Other potential sites include Orlando, Fla. and Pittsburgh, Pa.

 Stanford University is building the James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering Sciences, a 225,000-sf bio-science research facility slated for occupancy in 2003. Promoting the Stanford interdisciplinary initiative called Bio-X, Clark Center will house 50 faculty from biosciences, physical sciences and engineering.