Eleven "project ready" sites covering
some 900 acres (364 hectares) make up the certified
portion of the new GIS-based portfolio of industrial
properties to be found at OregonProspector.com, the
new statewide industrial lands site launched in May
by the Oregon Economic Development Association (OEDA),
Pacific Power and the State of Oregon. Over the past
three years, the OEDA has successfully partnered with
the
Oregon Economic and Community
Development Dept. (OECDD) to implement a business
recruitment campaign of which OregonProspector.com is
a part.
Jill Miles, CecD,
national business development executive for OECDD, is
an IAMC member.
Boston, Mass.-based
Iron
Mountain Inc., a provider of outsourced records
and information management services, has acquired the
archive services business of IBM Deutschland GmbH subsidiary
DISOS. The purchase includes nine records centers in
Berlin, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Dresden and Erfurt.
Anthony
Ryan, vice president of Iron Mountain, and
John
Haydon, director of real estate, are both IAMC
members.
With help from the
Nebraska
Dept. of Economic Development and a $505,000
Community Development Block Grant, Philadelphia, Pa.-based
Southwark Metal Manufacturing
will create 30 jobs at a new facility in Fremont. An
additional $3.63 million in capital from Southwark,
the City of Fremont, the Nebraska Investment Finance
Authority, Nebraska job training funds, and the city's
local option sales tax fund will go toward the purchase
of equipment, employee training and construction costs.
Southwark employs 800 people at plants in Philadelphia;
Indianapolis, Ind.; Piedmont, S.C., and Southaven, Miss.
Dave Gilfillan, business
development consultant with the Nebraska Department
of Economic Development, is an IAMC member.
A May 2004 release from the Greater
Richmond Partnership's BioSynthesis program showcases
Richmond, Va.-based engineering/contracting firm AdvanceTEC
LLC, and points out how the firm helped IAMC member
company
Merck & Co. with
a clean-room retrofit project to add a production line
at its plant in Elkton, Va. While three other bidders
all suggested installing a "penthouse" on top of the
existing building, AdvanceTEC engineers figured a way
to do it in the existing space. According to the company's
managing partner and co-founder Tim Loughran, Merck
was able to save both money and ramp-up time on the
project.
Joseph Milano,
senior real estate associate with Merck & Co., is an
IAMC member.
Netherlands-based
Philips
Electronics NV and LG Electronics are continuing
to invest in the massive liquid-crystal-display industry
build-up (see the March 2004 issue of Site Selection,
p. 150) by filing in Seoul to list their joint venture
on the Korean and New York stock exchanges during the
third quarter of 2004. The JV plans to use most of the
$1 billion an IPO would raise to fund new factories.
Already, it operates six factories in Gumi, South Korea,
and has plans to spend $21 billion over the next 10
years on a complex near Seoul.
Ralph
Pirtle is director of real estate for Philips
Electronics North America Corp.
Dallas-based
Mohr
Partners has opened its 16th U.S. office, and
has tabbed former United Systems Integrators senior
vice president Gerard Picco as its managing director.
"I have always respected Mohr Partners as a skillful
competitor," said Picco, a 20-year industry veteran.
Mohr has also formed a partnership with Arora & Associates
in India, which has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai and
Bangalore.
Dina Boscardin,
managing partner for Mohr Partners' Scottsdale, Ariz.,
office, is an IAMC member.
Robert Cull,
manager of North American real estate for French-German
firm
Aventis Pharmaceuticals,
is a new IAMC member. Just as his name hit the membership
rolls, his company's name hit the headlines, as Aventis
accepted a takeover bid in late April 2004 from Paris-based
company Sanofi-Synthelabo for $65.5 billion. The new
company, called Sanofi-Aventis, will be the world's
third-largest pharma company, after IAMC member company
Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. Sanofi plans to sell a northern
France manufacturing plant and its two blood thinner
product lines to GlaxoSmithKline as part of the merger
process, in order to satisfy European regulators.
As part of its plan to cut its portfolio
of oil and gas fields in the U.S. and Canada to a core
of 400,
ChevronTexaco in
May 2004 sold assets across the eastern U.S., Permian
Basin, mid-continent, South Texas and Rocky Mountain
regions to Fort Worth, Texas-based XTO Energy for $1.1
billion. Meanwhile, even as annual production fell in
2003, the company continues to increase its production
investments in China and in Kazakhstan. ChevronTexaco's
first-quarter 2004 earnings came in well above expectations,
driven mainly by refining earnings. IAMC member
Dennis
Triplitt is manager, projects and consulting,
for ChevronTexaco Business and Real Estate Services.
IAMC Member
Ellie
Chambers, economic development strategist for
Spokane, Wash.-based
Avista Corp.,
is now on loan to the Spokane Area Development Coouncil,
and will serve the organization for at least the next
year. Chambers also serves on the boards of the Washington
State Economic Development Association and Inland Northwest
Partners, and serves as vice president of the Oregon
Economic Development Association.
