IAMC People and Projects

     In April, Dow Chemical named CB Richard Ellis as its exclusive global Facilities Management provider. CBRE will be responsible for initially managing 5.3 million square feet of property at Dow's select sites in U.S. and Europe.

     "Dow Chemical is one of the top manufacturing companies in the world and we are dedicated to delivering the exceptional service that this global leader requires," said Steven Swerdlow, president of CBRE's Global Corporate Services.

     "CBRE is an experienced and recognized solution provider in the Facilities Management services business," said Dow's Peyman Zand, facilities expertise center leader. "We trust that this new relationship will add significant value to Dow's operations in the months to come."

     CBRE also recently inked transaction management contracts with IT products and services conglomerate Fujitsu America and risk management company Aon Corp. In addition, in May it announced the creation of CBRE Capital Markets, which combines the company's investment sales and mortgage banking businesses into a single, fully integrated global service offering.

     Allan Fowler, president of West Virginia operations for Dow, is an IAMC member. CBRE Senior Managing Director Bleecker Totten and Senior Vice President Bob Duncan are IAMC members, with Duncan serving as an IAMC board member.

     According to published reports, after looking at finalist sites and incentive packages in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, PepsiCo will build a $140-million plant for the manufacture of Gatorade at a yet-to-be-named site in Virginia. The new plant, situated to serve the Mid-Atlantic marketplace, will complement other Gatorade plants in Indianapolis, Ind.; Dallas, Texas; Oakland, Calif.; Kissimmee, Fla.; Mountaintop, Pa.; Atlanta, Ga.; and Tolleson, Ariz.

     The Oakland plant is also seeing a $20-million reinvestment. Russell A. Burton, corporate manager of economic development for PepsiCo Global Real Estate, is an IAMC member. Rick Richardson, director of communications and promotions for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, is one of seven Virginia-based IAMC members.

     Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories’ Diagnostics division, supported by IDA Ireland, has already recruited 500 of the 950 new employees it expects to hire at a new facility in Longford, Ireland, and an expanded facility in Sligo. The company announced the combined US$140-million investment in 2003.

     "The speed of construction of the new facilities and the rate at which the operations are coming on-stream is a credit to Abbott and to everyone involved and I congratulate them all," said Irish Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney in April.

     Marilyn Kasko, vice president of corporate real estate for Abbott, is an IAMC member.

     Royal Lepage Commercial has created Canada’s first Call Center Practice Group, launched under a new program called "Canada Calling." According to Ralph D. Birkhoff, associate vice president of the practice group, Royal Lepage has helped complete over 1 million sq. ft. of contact center negotiations over the past few years, and now aims to promote what some call the "nearshore" solution. For more on the program, call 1-866-350-NEAR, or visit www.royallepage.com. Joyce Murray, vice president of Royal Lepage, is an IAMC member.

     The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development’s newly named Department of Commercialization and Innovation (DCI) has a new leader, pending approval by state officials. Deborah L. Clayton, a former manager of operations at Argonne National Laboratory and most recently the founding executive director for the Charlotte Research Institute (CRI) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has been selected by Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher as the new DCI commissioner.

     DCI was formerly known as the Office of the New Economy. The Commissioner's responsibilities include development of a knowledge-based economy strategy, oversight of the modernization initiative, recruitment of research and development companies and attraction of high-technology research and development centers. The Commissioner will also work closely with educators state-wide, and her appointment was applauded by the presidents of the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.

     "The Cabinet was presented with several outstanding candidates for this job," stated Cabinet Secretary and IAMC member Gene Strong. "Deborah's strong background in research, education and commercialization made her the top choice."

     Paine/Wetzel · ONCOR International’s Leslie P. Spinner, SIOR, principal

Leslie P. Spinner and Gregory R. Wright

     The facility comprises a 400,000-sq-ft. office building and a 709,000-sq.-ft. warehouse, situated on a 95-acre corporate campus in Elgin, Illinois. Consideration value of the transaction was approximately $50 million.

     Along with the sale of the property, Paine/Wetzel · ONCOR International arranged a leaseback of approximately 160,000 sq. ft. of the office building to Panasonic to house 350 employees. This includes 100 positions that will be relocated to the Elgin location from other Panasonic locations out of state.

     The entire Elgin package deal was an honorable mention in Site Selection’s Top Deals of 2004. James Swartchild Jr., executive vice presidnet of Paine/Wetzel ONCOR International, is an IAMC member.

     NAI Global is adding to its network of members at a rapid pace. Joining the international commercial real estate network in recent weeks are NAI Bergman of Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky; NAI Pittsburgh Commercial; NAI San Diego and NAI Finlay, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

     IAMC boasts eight members with NAI affiliation, including Rick Leighton, vice president of corporate services for NAI Global.

     The Oregon Department of Administrative Services is seeking solicitations of interest from developers for the 146-acre Mill Creek Industrial Park in Salem, Oregon. The parcel is the first phase of development of a 651-acre site. Review the adjacent PDF file for more information.

     Jill A. Miles, national business development executive with the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, is an IAMC member.

     Select Greater Philadelphia has conducted its own selection, choosing Thomas G. Morr, former managing partner of the Greater Washington Initiative, as its new president "Bringing in a blue-chipper like Tom Morr gives tremendous credibility to Select Greater Philadelphia — both within the region and around the globe," said former Pennsylvania governor Mark S. Schweiker, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

     Stuart Litvin, director of business development for Select Greater Philadelphia, is an IAMC member.

CoStar research vehicle.

     In May, CoStar Group was awarded a U.S. patent for the field research technology it employs in collecting commercial real estate information. CoStar’s custom-designed fleet of vehicles is equipped with remote computers that utilize global positioning system technology to identify nearby buildings in its database.

     The company’s commercial real estate database includes including more than 462,000 properties and more than 2.2 million digital images. CoStar researchers drove more than 1.3 million miles and added over 238,500 building photographs — 4,606 per week — to the database in 2004.

     Mark Klionsky, senior vice president of CoStar Group, is an IAMC member.