Philly Tech News Facilities Roundup: Who's moving or expanding? (3/23/2012)

Tom Paine

Real estate decisions (leases, expansions, new buildings or offices) are often a good indicator of what's happening within a company or industry. This periodic Philly Tech News feature is a roundup of recent facilities news involving Philly area tech firms.

Newtown, Bucks County-based Steel ORCA is said to be ready to break ground on a huge (700,000 square foot) data center in Fairless Hills. The colocation facility, which is expected to open early next year, is already looking for tenants. Located on the former U.S. Steel Fairless Works factory site, the plant will cost about $750 million at buildout, Steel ORCA says. Financed through equity investments, debt, and investments by some hardware and software vendors, the property is in a Keystone Opportunity Zone that provides some state and local tax breaks.
By comparison, Apple's new data center in North Carolina contains 500,000 square feet (although that may not exactly be apples to apples, no pun intended).





MayoSeitz Media has moved its headquarters to a new business complex, Arborcrest, adjacent to Unisys in Blue Bell, PA. "We simply outgrew our space and the move to new offices afforded us the opportunity for additional technology, space and areas for collaboration”, said Ray Mayo, Co-Founder and Managing Director in a statement. At the same time, MayoSeitz is upgrading its branding, including its graphics, logo, and website. MayoSeitz Media says it is one of the leading independent media agencies in the United States.






King of Prussia-based Devon IT, a leading maker of thin client computing devices and software, is opening a new office in Shanghai to support sales and meet what it says is "growing demand from (its partner) Dell for thin clients and virtual desktops in the region". Dell sells Devon IT products and Devon IT develops products that support Dell's Desktop Virtualization Solutions (DDVS).

Two Pennsylvania-based VC firms will open New Jersey offices after receiving LP investments from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA). The EDA voted to invest $3 million in Osage Venture Partners III and $2 million in NextStage Capital II. NextStage expects to lease space in the Rutgers-Camden Business Incubator at the EDA’s Waterfront Technology Center at Camden, and Osage plans to establish a new office in Branchburg.

Malvern-based ad agency Stream Cos. will open a new office in Old City Philadelphia. The agency, which has 55 employees in Malvern, will have four employees in the Philly office, which will be headed by Bob Weissman.



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