FGCU to break ground on $20 million Business College

By Daily News staff
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Florida Gulf Coast University will hold a groundbreaking ceremony this afternoon to mark the beginning of
construction on the Lutgert College of Business, a project Raymond and Beverly Lutgert jump started last year
with a $5 million donation.

The ceremony will honor the Lutgerts at 2 p.m. today in front of Academic Building V.
The state has matched the couple's $5 million gift, and that plus the $9.4 million the university had already
garnered for the building, will allow for a $19.4 million facility to house the business college dean Richard
Pegnetter founded in 1997 when the campus opened in south Lee County.

Pegnetter is now serving as acting president in the wake of the resignation of Bill Merwin earlier this year. He
will resume his duties as business dean after a new president is selected by the end of the year.
The building is planned to include 62,000 square feet and will house $550,000 worth of state-of-the-art
equipment.

The business college will be located near the front of the FGCU campus, next to the planned Whitaker School
of Engineering building named Holmes Hall last week at its groundbreaking ceremony.
The Lutgert Hall will include a financial trading room to provide a real experience for students in investment
classes.

Fort Myers architects are scheduled to complete the new building in fall 2008.
For more information, contact university spokeswoman Susan Evans at (239) 590-1057.

© 2007 Naples Daily News and NDN Productions. Published in Naples, Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.