James Lee Sorenson, along with his family's foundation, has contributed $4.34 million toward construction of offices and classrooms for the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.

The new $62 million facility will feature three pavilions. The foremost of the three -- serving as the main terrace over the entrance -- will be named the James Lee Sorenson Leadership Pavilion. It will provide classrooms and a study lounge for masters and MBA students.

Sorenson, a 1975 accounting graduate at the school and a Utah real estate developer, said the Sorenson Legacy Foundation contributed half of the gift and he contributed the other half. The foundation was started by his father, James LeVoy Sorenson, who died two years ago. The elder Sorenson invented many medical products and founded the Sorenson Cos., which spawned numerous subsidiaries.

Sorenson said Thursday that the new building is "needed, and it positions the school to be very competitive and an excellent educational resource in Utah. It [will be] a beautiful complex."

School Dean Taylor Randall said the new building, expected to open sometime in 2013, will be four stories with a mezzanine on each level. It will total 188,000 square feet with 70 percent of the space devoted to student activities, including state-of-the art classrooms. The remaining space will be faculty offices.

Sometime after it's completed, he said, the older Garff building, at 62,000 square feet and located immediately north of the new structure, will be demolished.

Randall said the Sorenson contribution was critical to the school's fundraising efforts. The state is providing $22.9 million of the $62 million anticipated cost, with the additional $39.1 million from donors.

The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation of Salt Lake City had pledged $12 million -- $3 million in cash and $9 million in matching dollars.

"Jim's gift helped us make that match," said Randall. "We anticipate there will be other major donors. The remaining two pavilions also carry naming rights, as will the building overall."

Planners refer to the second pavilion as the community-student pavilion. It will include study and collaboration spaces for undergraduates and house various centers focused on critical business issues in the community. For example, the Ivory-Boyer Real Estate Center and the school's ethics initiative will be located there.

The final pavilion will house a majority of the school's classrooms, the dean said.

He expects the facility to be certified for energy efficiency since it will use up to 60 percent less energy than a typical educational facility in Utah.

"This will be the most energy-efficient building on campus and one of the top in the western United States," Randall said.

The new structure sits on the site of the former Francis Armstrong Madsen building, an iconic circular structure that was dedicated in 1965 when Randall's grandfather, Clyde Randall, was dean. That building was demolished starting mid-summer; construction on its replacement began late last year.

"My grandfather was responsible for putting up that building. I'm responsible for tearing it down and putting up something new," he said.

jkeahey@sltrib.com