San Diego will soon welcome Idec Pharmaceutical's Nobel Research and Corporate Campus, which the company is calling a 'center of excellence.' The campus will be reminiscent of a small Italian hill village but will be anything but small in terms of its beauty and functionality.

The term 'campus' is typically associated with schools and universities. Realizing that a campus environment offers multiple benefits, real estate developers have begun building campuses for organizations in a variety of industries in recent years.

Idec Pharmaceutical's Nobel Research Corporate Campus, slated to open in fall 2004, will include two office buildings, two labs and a commons building totaling nearly 348,000 square feet.

In San Diego, non-academic campuses are rare. When Idec (Nasdaq: IDPH) opens its masterpiece facility in University Towne Center in the fall 2004, it will be one of the first business campuses in San Diego built from the ground up for a single user.

"A campus environment is perfect for Idec," said Tony Badeaux, executive director of development for Cisterra Partners, which is Idec's entitlement, planning and development partner in the project. "Idec's goal for its West Coast center of excellence is to create a corporate culture that thrives on innovation, collaboration and employee development. The benefits and amenities of a campus will allow just that."

International developer Cisterra has also partnered with Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) to build campuses in Amsterdam, Ottawa and Boston.

The Idec project sits upon one of the finest commercial sites still open for development in the county. Great consideration was given to retaining the natural characteristics of the land, including rolling hills and canyons. A man-made arroyo will run through the center of the campus following the natural topography. An elevated glass bridge spanning the arroyo will connect the administrative buildings with the lab buildings. The facade of the buildings will feature three different colors of sandstone, giving each building the look of Italian hill village homes clustered together.

A business campus consists of two or more buildings and, like an academic campus, offers multiple amenities. Idec's project epitomizes the many benefits of a campus. The first phase of the three-phase project includes two office buildings, two labs and a commons building totaling nearly 348,000 square feet.

Cisterra and Idec choose premier organizations to work with them on the project including internationally known architects HOK and construction industry leader Turner Construction. HOK and Cisterra also teamed up to create Cisco's 1 million-square-foot European headquarters in southeast Amsterdam.

Currently, Idec has multiple locations scattered throughout the Torrey Pines area. The campus will allow Idec employees to work together more effectively by being closer together. The buildings and grounds of the campus are connected and integrated so opportunities for planned and spontaneous collaboration won't be missed. Multipurpose meeting rooms are available, as are indoor and outdoor informal gathering areas.

As announced on June 23, and pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, Idec intends to merge with Biogen, another biotech leader. The combined company will have two centers of excellence: The Nobel Research and Corporate Campus in San Diego and the other in Cambridge, Mass., where the merged company's corporate headquarters will reside.

Locally, Idec will also have two manufacturing facilities in Oceanside.

Another advantage of the new campus is that it will allow for growth. Idec's success has resulted in rapid expansion, adding as many as 10 new employees each week. While Phase 1 will accommodate 1,000 Idec employees, phases 2 and 3 will have room for up to another 1,400 employees in five additional buildings spread over the 43-acre site.

Idec also plans to use the campus as a recruiting tool and for employee retention. In an industry where the competition for experienced, talented employees can be intense, the beautiful campus environment combined with San Diego's incredible climate and outdoor lifestyle will set the company apart from its competitors.

Like a college campus, the Idec campus will offer many amenities so workers won't necessarily need to leave the grounds to find the services they desire. And who'd want to leave when the campus offers a common building that will include multiple food service areas, an espresso bar and a gym?

Employees wanting outdoor recreation can enjoy a sand volleyball court and walking paths. The landscaped portions of the grounds will feature walking paths, gathering areas, outdoor sculptures and a memorial to deceased Idec employees.

Realizing that the land had incredible potential and it was one of the few premier sites left in central San Diego, Cisterra was already in escrow to buy the land, which sits on the northwest corner of Nobel Drive at 805, when Idec approached Cisterra to assist them with their corporate facilities needs. Together the two organizations joined forces to partner on the project.

Idec has outsourced the development to Cisterra yet stays closely involved in the project. (Idec staff is managing the biotech giant's other current development project -- a manufacturing facility in Oceanside -- in-house.)

"The campus is the product of a well thought out collaboration among the user groups within Idec, Cisterra Partners, the design team at HOK and the construction team at Turner," said Paul Draper, senior director of facilities for Idec. "And, the project will be a great asset to the UTC area."

"We're right on schedule to have the campus ready for Idec to begin move-in in late September of next year," Badeaux said. "Idec will have a world-class facility that will meet and exceed their needs. And San Diego will have a true corporate and research campus that will make us proud."

Warren is a principal of TW2 Marketing.