Seminole County, eight miles north and east of Downtown Orlando, is following Osceola County, 20 miles south of Downtown, in commissioning a convention center for Downtown Sanford, FL, the county seat and home of a fast-growing cargo and passenger airport operations.

Lake Mary, FL-based Burke Bales & Mills beat out 10 rivals for the design job of the planned $18 million Sanford center which will be built by the county but operated by the city. The last published size of the center was 43,000 sf, giving the project an unprecedented hard construction cost of $419 per sf.

Burke Bales, county and city officials couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline to verify that estimated cost. But in February of this year, Seminole County was talking of a similar-sized center and a 200-room, seven story hotel for an estimated $55 million.