Telecommunications

NetReach, a host and developer of Websites, plans to transform a 200,000-sf former asbestos manufacturer's warehouse into a high-tech hub for its operations. After $10 million in upgrades, the warehouse will become Two eCommerce Plaza, an "Internet-centric" small business park. NetReach, currently housed in an adjacent 12,000-sf building, will move into the new telecom structure when renovations are completed at the end of 2000. Space unoccupied by NetReach will be made available to other Web-based companies.

Nokia’s 135,000-sf facility in San Diego’s Scripps Northridge Corporate Center has a new space plan and design for tenant improvements, thanks to the work of Austin Veum Robbins Parshalle of San Diego, in association with Divan+Studio.The shell and core of the new facility, completed in September 2000, was designed by a collaboration of Davis & Davis Architecture and McGraw/Baldwin Architects. The general contractor is Hensel Phelps Construction Co.   Interiors for the project were done by DPR Construction.

Fowler & Flanagan, of Larkspur, Calif., is transforming two vacant warehouses in Northeast D.C. into a technology center. The 120,000-sf warehouse site has what telecom companies are looking for: high ceilings, heavy floor load capability, open floor plan, and proximity to fiber-optic lines. Fowler & Flanagan have built similar facilities in Los Angeles, Phoenix, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Kansas City, Mo. The project manager is Total Site Solution.

Internet Center @ TeleCom City, a $15 million telecommunications project approved by the Mystic Valley Development Commission in late May, will create a state-of-the-art facility in TeleCom City Park where General Electric once built tanks during World War II. Demolition of the existing structure in June will give way to a two-story, 260,000-sf structure, 100,000 sf of which is scheduled for completion by year's end. The building will be subdividable into 30,000-sf areas, and will be wired with fiber-optic lines.

Piazza Del Corleone, a $100-million to $125-million telecommunications facility, is slated to break ground in July in San Francisco. Two three-story buildings are planned, with completion of the building shells by December 2000. San Jose-based Habitec Architecture and Planning is designing the 324,000-sf to 500,00-sf project. Special features include water-tight rooms, link redundancy, multiple fiber-optic cables, reinforced floors, space for back-up power, on-site round-the-clock security, and seismic reinforcements to hospital-level standards.

The National Fire and Protection Agency (NFPA) has partnered with Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) and the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) to build a set of Consensus Codes--a new set of codes for the built environment. Their goal is to provide safety officials with a new consistent and compatible set of codes by the year 2003. As part of the Consensus Code project NFPA also plans to devise a NFPA Building Code.

ADC Telecommunications Inc. is planning a new $100 million, eight-building world headquarters and technology campus. The new headquarters, a 91-acre site in Eden Prairie, Minn., will house ADC corporate, engineering, and divisional offices, and include office space, labs, light manufacturing areas and parking facilities. Amenities include a 280-seat auditorium, on-site fitness center, and expanded corporate training facilities. Johnson Controls Personal Environments will be installed at the individual workspaces.

Nortel Networks Corp. plans to build twin 180,000-sf structures at its Windward campus in Alpharetta to accommodate its fiber-optic equipment business. Barry Real Estate Cos. of Atlanta will develop the facilities that will eventually accommodate approximately 1,500 employees. Construction on the first building began in April, with completion anticipated in twelve months.

Cisco Systems, based in San Jose, Calif., has plans to manufacture fiber-optic gear in Salem, N.H. Cisco will convert 674,000 sf of manufacturing and office space to a facility for testing, assembling, and distributing equipment for use in high-speed telecommunications networks.

Cisco Systems Inc., based in San Jose, Calif., anticipates employing 10,000 workers by 2004 at its campus in Research Triangle Park. An announcement is expected in May concerning the development of a new wireless R&D division at the site that may be as large as its Telephony Internet Services Unit, one of the four largest at that location.

Voice of America (VOA) began construction of a new 30,000-sf state-of-the-art multimedia broadcast center designed by Gensler. An observation walkway will allow the public to watch the broadcaster's 175 journalists at work. A visitor center, visitor exhibits, and a retail shop are also included in the project. VOA is working to have the new facility ready to cover the November presidential elections for its foreign audiences.

Nextel Communications Inc. is retrofitting a 33,359-sf office building at Creekside Business Park in Danville to serve as a data switching center. The $10 million renovation will include installation of extra power supplies, a special system for climate control, back-up generators, and fiber-optic connections. Nextel hopes to have the site operational by summer 2000.

North Carolina State University, in an alliance with Lucent Technologies, is building a new 120,000-sf facility for fiber optics applications research at the university's Centennial Campus. The Lucent Building, scheduled to open in spring 2000, will house 500 employees of the Lucent Technologies Optical Networking Group.

Discovery Communications has plans for a new 500,000-sf worldwide headquarters in Silver Spring scheduled to break ground in fall 2000. The structure will consolidate operations currently spread out in six Bethesda, Md., buildings, and will house approximately 2,000 employees when completed in fall 2002. Discovery Communications is the owner of the Discovery Channel.

Tellabs Inc., a telecommunications company based in Lysle, Ill., has plans for a 270,000-sf two-building build-to-suit office complex where it will house as many as 1,000 employees.The first building in Chelmsford is scheduled for completion by July 2001. Boston Properties Inc. is the developer.