Tesla purchases 210 acres in Shanghai with plans to build Gigafactory 3

A few months ago, Tesla confirmed reports that the company was looking to establish a factory in Shanghai to better serve the Chinese market. On Oct. 17, Tesla announced it had secured the rights to a 210-acre piece of land in Lingang, Shanghai on which it will build Gigafactory 3.

The electric car company plans to build Gigafactory 3 on an accelerated construction schedule in order to get the factory up and running as quickly as possible in the face of new tariffs. Between import tariffs and ocean transport costs, Tesla is operating at a 55% to 60% cost disadvantage compared to the same car produced locally in China.

Construction is expected to begin in the near future and take about two years, and $2 billion, before the factory can produce vehicles. It will take another two or three years from that point before the factory is at full power, which will allow it to produce about 500,000 vehicles per year.

Gigafactory 3 will be the first Gigafactory outside of the United States. Gigafactory 1 is located at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center in Nevada. Gigafactory 2 is located in Buffalo, N.Y.

While green data centers will continue to be a trend within the industry, technology is also driving infrastructure upgrades that have never been seen before, according to the 2011 Data Center Technical Market Report from Environmental Systems Design. The report also includes an overview of the national data center market, construction costs, blackouts and disaster prevention, and site selection.

| Jan 4, 2011

Grubb & Ellis predicts commercial real estate recovery

Grubb & Ellis Company, a leading real estate services and investment firm, released its 2011 Real Estate Forecast, which foresees the start of a slow recovery in the leasing market for all property types in the coming year.

| Nov 29, 2010

Data Centers: Keeping Energy, Security in Check

Power consumption for data centers doubled from 2000 and 2006, and it is anticipated to double again by 2011, making these mission-critical facilities the nation’s largest commercial user of electric power. Major technology companies, notably Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, and International Business Machines, are investing heavily in new data centers. HP, which acquired technology services provider EDS in 2008, announced in June that it would be closing many of its older data centers and would be building new, more highly optimized centers around the world.

| Nov 3, 2010

Public works complex gets eco-friendly addition

The renovation and expansion of the public works operations facility in Wilmette, Ill., including a 5,000-sf addition that houses administrative and engineering offices, locker rooms, and a lunch room/meeting room, is seeking LEED Gold certification.

| Oct 12, 2010

The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.

| Oct 12, 2010

Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.