The new building also will mark the end of an era. After spending more than $600 million on new construction, USC now plans to focus on renovations, rather than new buildings.

The start of the law school’s construction comes on the heels of the opening of the $106.5 million Darla Moore School of Business building, the most expensive construction project in the university’s history.

Those two new projects signal “we require quality in all that we do,” said USC president Harris Pastides, who has overseen a boom in academic, housing and athletics construction since becoming the school’s leader in 2008.

The new buildings are showpieces on Columbia’s two main thoroughfares, Assembly and Gervais streets, on the western and northern edges of USC’s campus.

But now, USC will shift to renovations, instead of new buildings. “We’re probably going to focus on taking care of what we have for awhile,” Pastides said after the law school ground-breaking.

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