Industry News

Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG, designer and manufacturer of systems for internal combustion engines, has selected Albert Kahn Associates Inc. (AKA) of Detroit to provide programming and schematic design for a new technical center. The 100,000-sf, multi-story Kolbenschmidt Pierburg Technical Center will house office, prototype assemply, lab, and testing areas. It will be constructed in three phases at a 12.5-acre site in Auburn Hills.

Reinhold Industries has awarded the design of their new corporate headquarters to Ware & Malcomb Architects of Irvine, Calif. Four existing buildings will be demolished to make way for the new 50,000-sf office/manufacturing/warehouse building. Ware & Malcomb will design both the shell and tenant improvement for the new building. Two existing buildings will be re-skinned and a 9,000-sf addition will convert two existing buildings into one. Reinhold Industries manufactures composite plastics for use as airplane, jet plane, and missile parts.

The Carson Companies has five new single-story office/industrial buildings under construction at the company's 438-acre master-planned Dominguez Technology Center. The high-tech buildings, which total 653,503 sf, will have access to fiber optic and data communication lines. Completion of construction is anticipated between October 2000 and early 2001. The general contractor for the project is Millie and Severson Incorporated of Los Alamitos, Calif. RGA Architecture and Withee Malcolm Partnership designed the buildings.

Palm Inc., maker of handheld computing devices, will begin first-phase construction in November on a new $130 million corporate headquarters in North San Jose. Webcor Builders has been selected as general contractor for the mammoth 1.6 million-sf project that will accommodate ten four- to seven-story buildings including a common-use facility and three parking garages. The first phase of construction is expected to cost approximately $50 million.

Media Arts Group has plans for a new four-building campus on 22.71 acres at the proposed 80-acre Madrone Business Park in Morgan Hill. A total of 302,798 sf is planned for the Media Arts site. The first two buildings will be a corporate office building (61,437 sf) and a production facility (155,353 sf). The developer, TBI-Mission West LLC, expects to start construction soon. Media Arts is the production and administrative division of Thomas Kinkade Galleries.