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Tom Dowling
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Ground Broken for PCC/USF, Lakeland’s Third Building Additional Groundbreaking Photos Fact Sheet Lakeland Campus History
05/21/2004: Groundbreaking ceremonies for the third academic building on Polk Community College/University of South Florida, Lakeland campus were held May 19. The event featured speeches by PCC President Dr. J. Larry Durrence, USF President Dr. Judy Genshaft and State Senator J.D. Alexander, who spear headed the funding of the building. Matt Huber, President of USF Student Government and a PCC grad will be the Master of Ceremonies.
Like the rest of the Lakeland campus, the new facility will be used by students, faculty and staff from both PCC and USF. The building will have a total of 125,000 square feet (PCC space: 78,500 gross sq. ft; USF space: 46,500 gross sq. ft). The campus opened 16 years ago. Dr. J. Larry Durrence said the new building will “create space for labs for our outstanding Registered Nursing program and new IT programs such as the new Wireless Technology program that is being created with funding from the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. More students will be provided with access to the education and training needed to facilitate the growth of high skill/high wage jobs in our county. Students will find a marvelous student-friendly, one-stop center to meet their needs.” More than
15,000 students and working adults were educated at the
Lakeland campus this year. “Even more students would have been served except for the lack of class rooms and labs and funding for faculty salaries. That enrollment vindicates the decision of the PCC Trustees who had the vision to purchase this campus site more than 16 years ago,” the President said. Dr. Durrence also issued thanks to the many people who helped turn this construction project into a realization. “This groundbreaking is taking place because of the vision and leadership of our District Board of Trustees and the strong support of all members of the Polk County Legislative delegation. I especially recognize the efforts of Senator J. D. Alexander, not only for his leadership in the delegation for this $28.7 million project, but for having the vision to become part of the Senate Education Appropriations Committee and, before that, on the House Education Appropriations Committee. His role was indispensable in making this day possible. “Finally, I commend the PCC and USF staff who have spent and continue to spend long hours working with the capable architect and construction management firms to create a great building on this site. This is a great day for PCC, for USF and for the future of Lakeland and all of Polk County.”
A key design element in the new
building will be a large interior hallway or atrium that will
extend up 2½ stories to the roof of the building. It will look and
function like a mall with lots of glass that will fill the space
with light. On either side of the center hallway will be one stop
Student Services centers for each institution.
In addition to classrooms, labs and offices, the new building will include a 250 seat teaching auditorium. The auditorium, which will be shared by PCC and USF, can be divided into five break-out rooms. The project architect is HuntonBrady Architects, P.A. Centex Rooney in association with Rodda Construction were selected for construction management. Centex-Rooney Construction is a national firm with offices in Orlando and Rodda Construction is a Lakeland firm. For 16 years the Polk Community College/University of South Florida, Lakeland campus has served the educational needs of thousands and thousands of residents of Polk County and vicinity. Here’s a brief history of the campus. |
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