Florida Poly to break ground on $15 million engineering building
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 2, 2023

Florida Polytechnic University will add a two-story building to its Lakeland campus next year.

The university said Monday that it will break ground on the $15 million, 40,000-square-foot Gary C. Wendt Engineering Building in spring 2024. It will be home to research and development labs, staff and faculty offices, collaboration spaces and a conference room, the university said in a news release.

“We’re experiencing great campus growth due to our rising reputation as a premier STEM university, and the coming construction of this engineering building is a reflection of that success,” Florida Poly President Dr. Randy K. Avent said in a statement. “The new Gary C. Wendt Engineering Building will play a pivotal role in fulfilling our academic mission, as we educate the top engineers Florida needs to keep growing industry throughout the state.”

Wendt is a member of the university’s board of trustees who donated $2 million to the school last year.

“It is extremely important that, as a university, we offer students opportunities to grow their leadership skills because those will open more doors for them in their careers, and they’ll be more successful,” Wendt, who has a civil engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin and lives in Fort Lauderdale, said in a statement. “I believe Florida Poly is delivering an excellent academic experience, which, combined with a solid leadership component, creates the perfect combination for student success.”

The new engineering building will be the third academic building on the Florida Poly campus, joining the Innovation, Science and Technology building and the Barnett Applied Research Center. It will also be part of a construction boom: The university’s third residence hall is under construction, and the Citrus Innovation Center broke ground last fall. The Citrus Innovation Center is a public-private partnership with New York-based International Flavors and Fragrances.

Charles Perry Partners Inc. from Gainesville is the general contractor on the project.