Industry News

The Office of Homeland Security may move into a 339,000-sf, eight-story stand-alone building with secure parking—the largest block of contiguous office space available in Washington. The General Services Administration is bidding for the space against CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield, which is also looking to house its 1,275 employees in the city.

The University of Phoenix has selected Braintree-based Integrated Builders to develop a 13,000-sf satellite campus in Braintree.

Wellesley College has selected Genesis Planners and Builders Inc. of Waltham as project manager for its Alumnae Valley redevelopment. Scope of the project, to be completed by 2005, includes landscape restoration of the valley, a new campus center, and a 500-car garage.

Merck & Co. Inc. has selected the Boston office of Bovis Lend Lease to provide construction management of the Merck Research Center in the Longwood Medical Area. The 12-story, 390,000-sf facility is slated to open in 2004 and will house biology and chemistry labs, a 285-seat auditorium, administrative offices, a six-level below-ground parking structure, and space for mechanical equipment.  

Iomega Corp. of Utah is considering locations in Southern California for relocation of its headquarters. The high capacity diskette, drive, and data storage maker is favoring Orange County sites over San Diego at present, due to the grouping of data storage companies in the area and a large labor pool. In addition to relocating some of the 500 employees currently housed at the firm's headquarters near Salt Lake City, Iomega hopes to draw new staff that were previously deterred by location. Some Utah facilities will be retained in the move.