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December 23, 2008
Forest City Announces Major Milestones for Mesa del Sol Project
Forest City Enterprises via International Business Times
CLEVELAND, Dec. 22 — Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) today announced two major milestones for Mesa del Sol, a 12,900-acre, mixed-use project in Albuquerque, N.M.
On Dec. 5, Mesa del Sol announced an agreement with Sandia National Laboratories to partner on research, development and demonstration of energy technologies in a real life environment at Mesa del Sol.
On Dec. 10, Mesa del Sol held a ribbon cutting ceremony for phase one of a new, 210,000-square-foot office building for a business unit of Fidelity Investments.
"Forest City and Mesa del Sol are proud to partner with Sandia, one of the nation's leading energy research and development laboratories, and Fidelity Investments, one of the world's largest providers of financial services, to create jobs and help ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for Albuquerque," said Charles A. Ratner, president and chief executive officer, Forest City Enterprises. "These milestones demonstrate Forest City's continued success in delivering on our development pipeline and establishing vital partnerships with premier organizations for our large-scale, mixed-use urban communities."
Sandia National Laboratories
As part of the newly announced agreement, Sandia and Mesa del Sol will be able to advance technical work already underway toward the goal of achieving the nation's energy objectives and meeting national energy needs, while providing a foundation for job creation in the energy and sustainability fields.
Development of solar technologies will be one focus of the research and demonstration projects. Mesa del Sol is already home to solar industry companies SCHOTT Solar and Advent Solar.
The partnership will help Sandia meet Congressional and U.S. Department of Energy priorities for advancing alternative and renewable energy initiatives, with the added benefit of forming a valuable public/private partnership. While many of the projects will take place at Mesa del Sol, additional programs are also scheduled for Forest City's residential communities for military families in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Fidelity Investments building
The new office building, which sits on the north end of Mesa del Sol's Innovation Park, is fully leased to Fidelity's Human Resource Services business, which provides corporate clients with payroll, health and welfare and other human resources services.
In January, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced that Fidelity would become a tenant at Mesa del Sol. The new building was erected in less than 12 months, and Fidelity employees are currently moving in to the new facility. Initially, 300 Fidelity associates will work at the new building, with 1,250 expected at full occupancy. Phase two of the building will be ready for the tenant in 2009.
The Fidelity building was designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, but is now anticipated to earn a Gold certification instead, making it the first LEED Gold office building at Mesa del Sol. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to guide sustainable construction and renovations.
About Mesa del Sol
Mesa del Sol is being developed by Forest City Covington NM, LLC, a joint venture between Forest City NM, LLC, a subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises, and Covington NM, LLC, an affiliate company of Covington Capital Corporation. For more information, visit Mesa del Sol's Web site at http://www.mesadelsolnm.com.
About Forest City
Forest City Enterprises, Inc. is a $10.9-billion, NYSE-listed national real estate company. The Company is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate and land throughout the United States. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.forestcity.net.
Posted by eric at December 23, 2008 1:15 PM