Projects awarded

Charleston Southern University, Charleston, S.C., has broken ground on a new $11.3 million undergraduate teaching and multi-disciplinary research laboratory. When completed in January 2005, the two-story, 54,000-sq.-ft. building will house the university's biology department, chemistry department, and specialized greenhouse, animal holding, and tissue culture spaces. The facility was designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent, Atlanta. Charleston-based Trident Construction Co. is construction manager.

Dallas-based developer Simbol Commercial has selected The Weitz Co., Overland Park, Kan., as general contractor for an adaptive reuse project that will convert the historic 35-story Fidelity Tower in Kansas City into a mixed-use center with apartments, retail, and office space. Corrigan Associates, Dallas, is the design architect for the project, which also involves construction of a parking garage.

The local desert landscape serves as design inspiration for a $25 million, 120,000-s.f. expansion to the Palm Springs (Calif.) Convention Center, which broke ground early this month. Designed by Denver-based Fentress Bradburn Architects, the facility will feature an undulating roofline and irregularly shaped and canted stone pylons, inspired by the surrounding mountains. The project, which is scheduled for completion in spring 2005, will add exhibit space, meeting rooms, and prefunction space.

Skanska USA Building Inc., Parsippany, N.J., has been named CM for Avon Products Inc.'s new $100 million R&D facility in Suffern, N.Y. Expected to open in spring 2005, the new center will encompass chemistry labs for the development of cosmetics.