Natural Science Forum / Physics / Optics / May 2005

Sam Goldwasser asked me to provide more details on the Varo Cr:Er:Glass
eyesafe laser range-finder, so I decided to visit IMO Varo's offices in
Garland to see if I could beg, borrow, steal or otherwise acquire some
documentation on it from them. It had been a few years since I last
visited the place where I had once lived and worked.

As I drove East on West Walnut Street, I anticipated seeing the
now-vacant building that houses the clean room where I worked several
years ago. The building has stood vacant for the last 10 years. So, I
was just a little surprised to see the building is being demolished.
Only the front wall and offices remain.

I continued on to the main IMO offices located on West Kingsley. I was
much more surprised now, to find large signs on the building,
advertising the space for sale or lease. The section that used to be
the main entrance for IMO Varo is now the main entrance for a real
estate charter school.

The receptionist in the charter school said that Varo is gone; nothing
is left. I told her that I was hoping to get some documents from them,
but she said she did not know where to begin asking for that. She gave
me one name of one of the last Varo employees to work in the buildings,
as Varo was phasing out and the school was moving in. I also have the
phone numbers of the people who own the building. Perhaps I can yet
find some information.

I returned to the clean room building, where I watched the crane
operator tear down a few segments of the outside wall. I took several
pictures and a few movies. When he finished, I struck up a conversation
with him, and learned that demolision began about May 5. He estimated
that he would have the remaining structure torn down by the middle of
tomorrow. Apparently, Baylor Hospital has bought out the remainder of
that parcel of land.