The 60,000-sf Laura Lee Blanton Student Services Building will deliver in July 2003 in a 15-month work schedule, Brady Lowry, Centex's project manager, tells GlobeSt.com. At peak construction, an estimated 175 workers will be on site. Centex serves as the construction manager at risk.

Centex's contract is the third that the Dallas-based construction company has secured from SMU. The success of the Dedman Life Sciences Building, says a Centex source, shored up the newest undertaking by the university. The Dedman building opened in fall 2001. In the late 1980s, Centex steered the development of the Edwin L. Cox School of Business for the university.

The building will go up on the east quadrangle off SMU Boulevard. Omniplan Architects designed the facility, named for a former board of trustee member. The building will house the admissions office, financial aid department, registrar, information technology department and new student programs now scattered across the campus.