BASF, the German chemical giant, will invest $33 million expanding its Research Triangle Park facilities.

Last month the company announced that it is moving the headquarters of its plant science division from Germany to RTP.

The company already employs about 780 people in RTP, where it occupies 400,000 square feet.

The plant science division, which employs about 200 people, is working to create genetically modified crops that will produce larger harvests or plants that will be better able to withstand drought, floods and rising ocean levels.

The expansion announced Wednesday includes adding nearly 80,000 square feet of offices, laboratory and a climate-controlled greenhouse space. The project, which is the first of several investments planned at the RTP site, is expected to break ground next month.

BASF's transfer of its plant science headquarters to RTP is expected to add as many 123 positions.

Bloomberg News is reporting that Virginia “Ginni” Rometty's salary almost doubled to $1.5 million after she was promoted to CEO of IBM, the world's largest computer-services provider, at the start of this year.

Rometty - who was formerly IBM's chief marketing executive making $800,000 a year - is the first female CEO in the company’s 100-year history.

Her cash-incentive target for the year is $3.5 million, compared with the $1.47 million she received for 2011.

New York-based IBM employs about 10,000 people at its campus in Research Triangle Park.

Techies in search of a job need look no further than Texas.

Tech salaries in that city jumped a whopping 12.7 percent last year for an average annual salary of $89,419, according to the tech jobs website Dice Holdings.
That compares to a 2.6 percent jump in Raleigh where the average annual wage was $79,830 for techies last year.

If you can read it, this is how North Carolina will collect money from paying customers on its toll roads, starting today.  There are no quarters and no toll booths.

This was the first morning of toll collections on Triangle Expressway (see Monday's story with reader comments). I drove up and down TriEx to check out the (light) traffic. [1/4/11 update: see today's story about TriEx traffic, with reader comments.]  If you took TriEx to work today, I'd like to hear from you by email or phone (919-829-4527), including your workday contact info. ... [MORE]

View Triangle Expressway in a larger map

Toll collection will begin Tuesday morning on the first leg of the Triangle Expressway, which extends N.C. 147 through Research Triangle Park from I-40 to the 540 Outer Loop. [1/2/11 update: see today's story with reader comments.]

The road opened for toll-free traffic earlier this month, so RTP commuters and other drivers could try it out.

The cost for this 3.7-mile section of TriEx will be 50 cents per trip for folks with N.C. Quick Pass transponders, 77 cents for the rest of us.

So how do you like it?  Do you like it enough to pay a toll?  Will it make your daily drive easier?  If you drive TriEx Tuesday, please share your thoughts -- and your name and workday phone number -- by email or by phone (919-829-4527).

The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences is partnering with a Virginia investment firm to open a new contract research lab on the nonprofit's campus in Research Triangle Park.

The joint venture between Hamner and Charlottesville-based PBM Capital Group will be called Triangle Research Labs.

It will focus on screening drug components prior to clinical studies to give biotech and pharmaceutical companies insurances that the compounds in their drugs aren't toxic to humans.

“This partnership with PBM Capital Group aligns quite well with our shared vision to advance global public health,” said William Greenlee, president and CEO of Hamner, said in a release.

As part of the deal, PBM is shifting the contract research service operations of its GigaCyte subsidiary in Connecticut to Hamner's RTP location.

Triangle Research Labs will be led by Ivin Silver, a former director at GlaxoSmithKline.

Hamner, founded in 1974 to study the safety of chemicals, is expanding rapidly at its RTP campus at 6 Davis Drive.

View Triangle Expressway construction in a larger map

Now that the NC 147 Durham Freeway southern spur from I-40 to Alexander Drive is closed forever, thousands of RTP commuters are trying to find the least inconvenient alternate route to work each day.

NCDOT suggests this one, marked in blue on my map: From I-40 go south on NC 55, then go east on NC 54 to Alexander Drive.

Durham commuters also can reach Alexander Drive by exiting the north end of NC 147 onto Cornwallis Road (or onto Alexander Drive).  Raleigh folks can exit I-40 on Page Road or Davis Drive, then head west on NC 54 to Alexander Drive.  Got it? ... [MORE]

View Triangle Expressway construction in a larger map

Starting this morning, thousands of RTP commuters must find a new way to work because the southern spur of NC 147 (Durham Freeway) from I-40 to Alexander Drive has been closed - forever (see Aug. 19 story with reader comments).

What's your new route?  How will the change affect your commute? Please share your thoughts below or let me hear from you (don't forget your daytime contact info). [6pm update: DOT suggests alternate routes, and announces nighttime lane closings on NC 147 and I-40.]

It was the 279A exit from I-40. The road was especially convenient, and its loss will be a particular hassle, for workers at the EPA and NIEHS, and other offices on Alexander Drive south of N.C. 54.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority closed the convenient connection because it overlaps with the northern end of the Triangle Parkway toll road, now under construction.  The Triangle Parkway is scheduled to open in December.

A private Texas real estate firm has purchased the Keystone Technology Park, a cluster of 11 office and lab buildings in Durham, for $88.8 million, according to Durham County property records.

The Lionstone Group of Houston said in a release that it had made the purchase along with the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. It's the largest investment to-date for Linstone's $250 million equity fund.

The seller was Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago investment firm that paid $99.8 million in early 2006 for 12 buildings in the park that totaled 889,000 square feet.

Lionstone's purchase includes 11 buildings and 806,000 square feet at the southeast corner of Davis Drive at Hopson Road..

The deal is likely to be good news for other Triangle office landlords looking to sell office properties in the Triangle.

Cisco Systems, one of the Triangle's biggest employers, said today it notified about 170 employees in Research Triangle Park they will be laid off as part of the computer networking company's strategy to reduce global operating expenses by $1 billion next year.

Additionally, the company said 2,100 employees agreed to take early retirements and 1,200 contractors are slated for elimination. Cisco did not disclose RTP-specific details for the retirements and contractor reductions.

Most of the affected workers will leave in the first quarter of 2012, suggesting that the head count at Cisco's RTP complex could go down by several hundred from a peak of 4,900 this summer. The company has said it expects to shed about 6,500 workers globally to reduce overhead and adjust expenses to new economic realities.

The company made the staff cut disclosures in connection with its fourth-quarter earnings release, in which Cisco beat analyst expectations and calmed investor anxiety after a string of weak quarters.