IAMC Insider -- Site Selection magazine, May 2005

First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. is working with the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) on a joint venture that will develop and redevelop industrial assets.

Deals From
EMC and FMC
Benefit Communities
on Either Coast

Data storage company EMC Corp. will grow its 500-person work force in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park by approximately 75 positions, and plans to invest an unspecified amount in new facilities and upgrades there, according to an interview given by EMC CEO Joseph Tucci to The News & Observer in Raleigh. He also told the paper he'd been discussing incentives, among other things, with N.C. Gov. Mike Easley. David Streeter, senior director, global real estate, for Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC, is an IAMC member.
Certainly the company has made its share of investment in the state — both in concrete and human terms — since arriving in 1999. In December 2004, EMC donated both funds and technology to Futures for Kids (F4K), an innovative career development program across North Carolina.
"To sustain a pipeline of skilled workers in North Carolina, we continue to invest in education programs, particularly math and science education," said Joel Schwartz, EMC senior vice president and general manager, Midrange Systems Division.
On the other coast, diversified chemical company FMC Corp. is helping the community infrastructure in a different way. In February 2005 the company closed on the sale of 52 acres (21 hectares) of land at a former manufacturing site to the City of San Jose, with a sale pending for another 23 acres (9.3 hectares) once environmental remediation work is complete. While the company will use the proceeds primarily to pay down debt, the city aims to use the land to expand the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport.
IAMC member Alison Mertwoy is manager, strategic sourcing & corporate real estate for Philadelphia-based FMC Corp.

CalSTRS, advised by CB Richard Ellis, will pony up $300 million, with First Industrial contributing $33 million plus $86 million worth of property. "The joint venture provides us greater capacity to expand our share of the most lucrative part of the industrial real estate business — the development and repositioning of corporate real estate assets," said Mike Brennan, First Industrial president and CEO.

Honeywell International has opened a new HQ and R&D center in North Ryde, Sydney, Australia. Employing 130 engineers, the round-the-clock center currently includes operations from the company's automation and control solutions, Honeywell software center and customer care operations for Australia and New Zealand, but later will take on work from Singapore and Hong Kong.

BNSF Railway Co. has announced that as of Jan. 1, 2006, it will assess fuel surcharges for approximately 75 percent of its freight movement on a mileage basis, instead of the current method based on a percentage of the customer's freight bill. However, the remaining 25 percent represent joint-rate interline movements with other Class I railroads and will continue to be covered by the percentage method.

IAMC member
Scott Libbe

In late March 2005, Montvale, N.J.-based Ingersoll-Rand chose IAMC member company Grubb & Ellis to provide global real estate services, including portfolio strategy development, lease administration and transaction management. "We believe this will result in significant cost savings, while optimizing our portfolio to meet the needs of our business," said Elizabeth Hindal, Vice President, Shared Services Americas. A team of Grubb & Ellis and global partner Knight Frank will be led by John Byrnes, Executive Vice President, Regional Managing Director, Corporate Services Group, who will work directly with Ingersoll-Rand's Daniel Soroka, Director, Enterprise Asset Management.

In March, when Chrysler Group, the Kuka Group and Hyundai Mobis-owned Ohio Module Manufac-turing Company (OMMC) awarded the construction work for their new buildings in the Toledo Assembly complex to Walbridge, Ohio-based IAMC member firm Rudolph/Libbe Inc. "Rudolph/Libbe Inc. was the general contractor who best met our specific criteria for quality, system cost, technology and delivery," said Peter Rosenfeld, Executive Vice President — Procurement and Supply, Chrysler Group.

Thirty-year EPA veteran Jim Kutzman, P.E., has joined the staff of Alpharetta, Ga.-based MACTEC Engineering & Consulting as a senior consultant. Kutzman, who has worked on Superfund, hazardous waste and water quality projects across the Southeast, will bring his environmental issues resolution experience across a host of technical areas to bear on such areas as legislative monitoring and government relations.

In the "Private Project, greater than $100 million" category, IAMC member organization Parsons Brinckerhoff was the recipient of a CMAA Project Achievement Award in 2003 for its work on the GM Vehicle Engineering Center Tower on GM's Technical Center campus in Warren, Mich.

International corporate real estate advisor Mohr Partners has named Nick A. Rossini as managing partner and director of Portfolio Account Management. Rossini's 20 years of experience include stints with Fischer and Co., Jones Lang LaSalle, Transwestern Property Co. and Daniel Corp.