Consultant backs renovations at facility

A project to revamp an abandoned industrial building outside of Cheney to attract new businesses and create high-paying jobs has received a cautious green light from an economic consultant.

Renovation of an abandoned Honeywell Corp. production facility south of town is one step closer to receiving crucial federal funding from the Economic Development Administration.

The 113,000-square-foot building, a former microprocessor component manufacturing plant, has been vacant since early 2005. The city, hoping to attract small- to medium-sized manufacturers, is spearheading an effort to divide the building’s interior and upgrade utility hookups in a $4.5 million project. The city applied for $1.5 million from the EDA to kickstart the effort.

Lee Smith, of Elesco Consulting Group, a Bend, Ore., company hired by the city, said he recommended that the city pursue the project. But the city shouldn’t throw a lot of money at it expecting make a quick return, he said. He suggested creating a comprehensive plan and getting international companies committed before heavily investing.

WASHINGTON

Transplants needed for lens solution users

One-third of patients with a serious eye infection associated with a Bausch & Lomb Inc. contact-lens solution had such severe disease that they had, or are scheduled to have, a corneal transplant to replace the eye’s outer surface, according to research led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The contact-lens solution, ReNu with MoistureLoc, was removed from worldwide markets in May after it was linked to several cases in the United States and Asia of fusarium keratitis, a fungal infection that can cause blindness.

The research, which will appear in the Aug. 23/30 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, updates case figures of the eye infections in the United States. The CDC last issued preliminary findings in mid-May.

SEATTLE

Microsoft may push Vista for holidays

Microsoft Corp. is considering discounts or other promotions during the holidays to entice consumers to upgrade their PCs with Windows Vista, even though the new operating system isn’t due to hit store shelves until January at the earliest.

Any end-of-the-year effort to spur PC purchases would likely please many retailers and computer manufacturers, who fear disappointing sales during the crucial holiday as consumers wait for the highly anticipated and long-delayed software.

Kevin Kutz, a director in Microsoft’s Windows Client Group, confirmed Tuesday that the company is in talks with PC makers and retailers about a range of possible holiday promotions. But he declined to offer other details, such as whether they would apply only to new purchases.

BERLIN

BMW says it has deal to sell Rover brand

BMW AG said Tuesday it has agreed to sell the Rover brand for an undisclosed sum to an unidentified buyer, 12 years after its disastrous takeover of the British carmaker.

The sale will go ahead unless Ford Motor Co. exercises a right to buy the brand within a 90-day period, BMW spokesman Markus Sagemann said. It was unclear when that period runs out.

Dow Jones Newswires reported last week that China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., or SAIC, intended to pay about $20.8 million for the Rover brand.

Ford secured first refusal on the Rover name when it bought Land Rover from BMW so it could prevent any rival from building SUVs under a similar brand.

Compiled from staff

and wire reports