Florida Southern College continued its building boom Thursday morning with the groundbreaking of the Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker Technology Center.

The building, made possible by a $1.5 million donation from the Marshall and Lea Rinker Foundation, will be “the nucleus for our learning on campus,” said FSC Pres. Anne Kerr.

It will provide students access to state-of-the-art software and hardware.

The Rinker Foundation is based in Palm Beach. It was formed after the 1988 sale of the Rinker construction company. John Rinker, president of the foundation, has no previous ties to Florida Southern. But he has a longstanding relationship with Kerr, going back to her time as a top administrator with Rollins College in Winter Park. And he was eager to participate in the college’s ongoing pursuit of its master construction plan, Rinker and Kerr said.

The new building will be across Ingraham Avenue from the FSC bandshell. It will replace Columbia Hall, which was built in 1948 and has served as a multipurpose building.

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