LS3P founder Frank Lucas, FAIA awarded the Order of the Palmetto

Architect Frank Lucas, FAIA was recently awarded the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, on the occasion of his retirement dinner. The award was presented at a celebration with LS3P shareholders on Thursday, April 15 at Middleton Place in Charleston by Thompson E. Penney, FAIA, LS3P Chairman|President|CEO with a video from Governor Nikki Haley.

The Order of the Palmetto is awarded to SC citizens who have contributed “extraordinary lifetime services and achievements of national or statewide significance.” Lucas, a Charleston native, began practicing architecture in 1963 as a one-man firm. Over more than five decades, his contributions to the built environment included Charleston’s award-winning Gaillard Auditorium, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower near Columbia, the Charleston Water Systems building, Charleston International Airport, and the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. Frank was also instrumental in the redevelopment of Charleston’s City Market, a major visitor attraction and catalyst for redevelopment on the peninsula.

In a letter of support for Lucas’s nomination, Former Mayor Joseph P. Riley wrote, “whenever there was a community initiative that needed solid, blue-chip support, Frank Lucas would be the first person one would go to…I don’t know of a person finer than Frank Lucas. He came from modest circumstances, has become enormously successful with all the natural, hard-earned benefits that you would imagine, yet his natural graciousness and humility have never changed.”

Lucas’s civic engagement over the years includes significant contributions of time, expertise, and leadership to the Charleston Council of Architects, AIA SC, the Charleston County Building Code Review, City of Charleston Arts and History Commission, Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, Carolina Lowcountry Council of Girls Scouts of America, Clemson University, and many other organizations. Lucas also won the Clemson’s Alumni Distinguished Service Award, the Joseph P. Riley Leadership Award, and the AIA SC Medal of Distinction.

Through a series of mergers, the one-man firm has grown to over 300 employees in eight cities across the Southeast, serving diverse practice areas including civic, K-12 schools, healthcare, higher education, federal, hospitality, commercial, residential, aviation & transportation, worship, and interiors. With offices in Charleston, Charlotte, Columbia, Greenville, Myrtle Beach, Raleigh, Savannah, and Wilmington, LS3P has won over 470 design awards and provides architecture, interior architecture, and planning services to clients nationwide.