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Massachusetts Continues to Dominate New England Region for Industrial Plant Start-Ups in 2008, an Industrial Info News Alert

Posted on: Friday, 8 February 2008, 06:00 CST

Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- Massachusetts remains the New England region's leader for scheduled industrial plant start-ups for 2008. The region boasts plans for 56 new plants to begin operation this year. According to a recent analysis of Industrial Info's North American Industrial Plant Database, Massachusetts claimed first place with 14 of the new plants, or 25% of the total.

When compared with 2007's 35 plant starts, the region is expected to gain an impressive 21 more plants this year, a 60% increase. The combined total investment value (TIV) of projects sourced from this year's plants, both for original construction costs and planned future projects, is $3.3 billion, which results in average site TIV of $59 million. Again, this demonstrates a huge increase over last year's TIV of $494 million and average site TIV of $14 million.

The region, which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, could add nearly 2,000 jobs after all of the 2008 plants are fully operational. The new plant activity will add to the region's existing 1,600 operational plants as found in Industrial Info's New England Online Plant Directory. The existing plants provide employment for 360,000 people in the region. With all of the major industrial groups represented in the region, the majority of existing operational plants are claimed by the Industrial Manufacturing sector, which employs more than 200,000 at nearly 600 plants. A distant second place falls to the Food & Beverage Industry with roughly 200 facilities employing nearly 34,000. The rest of the operational sites are distributed among other groups, including the Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry (Pharmaceutical Industry Project Tracker - Online Database) with almost 150 sites employing more than 50,000 people, and the Pulp, Paper & Wood Industry is on board with more than 180 facilities and 27,000 jobs.

One of the larger projects moving closer to completion is the $200 million Longwood North Medical Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Acquired by BioMed Realty in a sale from Lyme Properties (Cambridge, Massachusetts), the building was designed by Tsoi/Kobus, also of Cambridge, and will add nearly 500,000 square feet on Binney Street. BioMed is also wrapping up the $250 million Center for Life Sciences in Boston (also acquired from Lyme), scheduled to be complete this year. William A. Berry and Sons out of Danvers is handling construction of the project.

The Industrial Manufacturing sector claims the majority of new plants scheduled to begin operation this year in New England with 17 planned sites. Two additional plants helped push the Power Industry and its 12 total plants past Pharmaceutical & Biotech, which expects to complete 10 new sites this year. The remaining plants are sourced from the Oil & Gas Transmission, Alternative Fuels and the Food & Beverage industries.

The Food & Beverage Industry claims the most plants for the region in the last half of the year, with eight sites forecast to come online. The Industrial Manufacturing sector is a close second with seven plants, and Pharmaceutical & Biotech claims third with five. The remaining facilities are sourced from Power (1), Oil & Gas Transmission (1), O&G Production (1) and Alternative Fuels (1).

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading marketing information services company for the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy-related markets throughout the world. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, IIR provides accurate and timely intelligence featuring plant and project information databases, focused market databases, industry forecasting, key industry contacts, industry and territorial map products, direct marketing services and applications, and daily industry news. For more information send inquiries to pharmabiogroup@industrialinfo.com or visit us at www.industrialinfo.com.

 Contact: Joe Govreau 713-783-5147  

SOURCE: Industrial Info Resources

Source: MARKET WIRE

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