Industry News

Boston College is undertaking several campus projects, including a $90 million renovation of the Higgins Science Building estimated to reach completion in fall of 2002. Construction has begun on a $36 million, 156,000-sf office facility on the lower campus, with plans for a $120 million development of three interconnected buildings (housing classrooms, offices, student services, and an auditorium) to follow.

Biogen Inc. is planning to build its first European manufacturing facility on 60 acres purchased in the Municipality of Hillerod, Denmark. With an option to buy an additional 36 acres, the Cambridge, Ma.-based firm has allotted $350 million to develop the project.

Redmond, Wa.-based Microsoft has opened the new 26,000-sf Silicon Valley Technology Center in Mountain View, Ca., a 10-lab facility enabling businesses to try the company's suite of enterprise software prior to purchasing.  

Newark-based Horizon Blue Cross  Blue Shield has leased 87,460 sf in Mount Laurel for consolidation and expansion of its presence  in South Jersey. Employee relocation and closure of the Philadelphia and Evesham offices were scheduled for late June. The facility, which will employ more than 400 people, will act as a secondary headquarters for the state's largest health insurer. Horizon has signed a 15-year lease for the $11 million office, built by Boston-based Leggat McCall Properties.

San Jose-based developer U.S. Dataport is planning a 2,000,000-sf, $1.4-billion Internet data center campus at a 188-acre site in Gainesville, Va. The 188-acre site is slated to open in early 2002.