The University of Central Florida set out in the early 2000s to renovate the City of Orlando EXPO Center to house their School of Film and Digital Media (now called the UCF Center for Emerging Media). The 117,000 square foot renovation was broken up into five phases of design and construction, with the initial phase including the reroofing of the entire 100,000 square foot roof as well as replacement of all A/C units. The facility houses faculty offices, classrooms, labs, an auditorium, sound stages, and a cutting-edge motion capture studio.
The project received much praise for the successful partnering between the City, UCF, the State, and the private sector, and was honored with two awards – the Downtown Orlando Partnership’s 2005 Award of Excellence and the Associated Builders and Contractors 2006 Award of Merit.