Industry News

George Mason University is hopeful that funding for construction of a new 100,000-sf building at its Manassas campus will be approved by the Virginia General Assembly in its 2000 session. Classrooms, conference center, and a bookstore would be housed in the new  $22 million facility. Groundbreaking could begin in fall 2000, with construction requiring 18 months. Existing buildings at the campus house research and biotechnology operations.

Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., began its Phase V expansion in March. O'Brien Kreitzberg (OK) of San Francisco has been selected to provide program management for the $748 million project, which is scheduled for completion by the summer of 2003. The project involves development of the approximately 2.8 million-sf convention and exhibition facility as well as public improvements in and around the project site.

Cisco Systems will open three new buildings at its campus in Research Triangle Park, N.C. A standard open floorplan, cubicle seating, standard furniture, and high-speed network connections at each desk characterize the new facilities. There are no offices along the perimeter of the buildings; the only hard-walled offices are located in the interior of the structures.

Paul Ecke Agricultural Research Park, a 125,000-sf research facility for agricultural biotechnology companies, is seeking a major use permit from the Encinitas Planning Commission. If approved, construction would begin with a 50,000-sf laboratory building on a ten-acre site adjacent to the Ecke poinsettia ranch. San Diego, Calif.-based McGraw/Baldwin Architects Inc. designed the facility. Greenhouses are also planned for the site and all lab buildings will have greenhouse windows.

Sprint's new 4,000,000-sf, 22-building corporate campus for 14,400 Sprint employees is under construction. It is the largest office building in the U.S., according to the designer, The Hillier Group Architects, of Princeton, N.J. Completion is anticipated in 2002.