Tuesday, January 31, 2012

SPX marks milestone in construction of new HQ

The traditional "topping out" ceremony was held today for SPX's new headquarters in Ballantyne.

The diversified global industrial conglomerate expects to move into the nine-story, 241,000-square-foot building early next year. SPX, which has about 250 employees in Charlotte, is now based down the street from the new building in Ballantyne Corporate Park.

The current building is "very full," SPX spokeswoman Jennifer Epstein says, so the company has employees scattered throughout the park.

General contractor Balfour Beatty Construction hosted the topping-out ceremony, which marks completion of the steel framework for the building. LS3P is the architect for the SPX project, which also includes a four-story garage. The Bissell Cos. is Ballantyne's developer.

Such events are getting to be old hat for Bissell Chairman Smoky Bissell. He recently presided over two topping-out ceremonies for Bissell's speculative office buildings in Ballantyne -- 10-story, 275,000-square-foot structures that are slated for completion by year's end.

The event comes one week after SPX agreed to sell its Service Solutions business to Robert Bosch GmbH for $1.15 billion in cash. SPX expects to record an after-tax book gain of approximately $450 million, or $8.65 per share.

In a prepared statement last week, Chris Kearney, the company's chairman, president and CEO, said: "This divestiture narrows our strategic focus and enhances our ability to build out our Flow Technology segment. Flow Technology is the foundation of our company and we now expect that segment to represent more than 50 percent of our revenue going forward."

For more info, visit www.spx.com/en/.

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