The Benjamin School has formally opened the Stiles-Nicholson Innovation Center, a two-story building on its Upper School campus at 4875 Grandiflora Road in Palm Beach Gardens that puts six science, technology, engineering, art and math labs, a makerspace and a glass-walled equipment room under one roof. The school held the ribbon-cutting on the morning of Wednesday, October 14, 2026, almost exactly a year after crews broke ground on the site.

What is inside the building

The center was designed around hands-on work. Its six labs are large, technology-equipped classrooms built for the school's STEAM courses, which at Benjamin cover science, technology, engineering, 3D art and math. One of the labs has a garage door, so a class building a project can roll it from the room straight out to open air. Alongside the labs sits a makerspace and a separate equipment room enclosed in glass, which keeps tools and machines visible while walling them off from the work areas.

Students did not wait for the ceremony. The building opened for classes at the start of the 2026 to 2027 school year, so upper schoolers had already been working in it for several weeks before the ribbon was cut. Upper School teachers Renee Szeliga and Debra Perretta led the effort to fit courses into the new rooms and plan how the space would be used day to day, according to the school.

One year from soil to ribbon

Benjamin turned the first ceremonial shovels for the project in October 2025, with crews already working in the background as donors and guests gathered at the site. By the third week of that month the school reported the foundation had been poured. The ribbon-cutting this month brought the building full circle, and Head of School Dave Faus pointed out that the ceremony took place on the same spot as the groundbreaking.

The building takes its name from David Nicholson and the Stiles-Nicholson team, whose gift anchored the project. The school also recognized the LaBanz family, with LeAnne LaBanz speaking at the ceremony about her family's support for education, along with the Arwood, Glasband and Narlinger families. The design and construction team included PBK Architects, AMC Construction, Zabek and Associates, Urban Design Studio, Civil Design, JLRD and MC Engineers.

A new student union next door

The Innovation Center opened alongside a second new building on the same campus, the Bodstrom Family Student Union, which sits across from it on the lake. The union holds a full kitchen that prepares fresh meals on site, a 5,000-square-foot indoor dining room and an outdoor patio. Upstairs are three more classrooms, including a 1,000-square-foot multipurpose room large enough to hold an entire grade, and a balcony looking out over the water that the school plans to use for gatherings with parents and alumni.

Both buildings belong to the first phase of Boundless, the capital campaign Benjamin launched in 2025. That first phase also produced the Jenkins Family Lower School Office and an expanded two-lane carline at the school's North Palm Beach campus on Ellison Wilson Road, which the school says can pull up to 100 cars off the street during drop-off and pickup.

What comes next for the campus

The campaign's second phase shifts to the Lower and Middle School campus in North Palm Beach, where the school expects to break ground in 2027 on a three-story building. Its ground floor will be the Robbins Family Student Union, a dining hall serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade, with 12 middle school classrooms on the two floors above, each more than 800 square feet. A third phase, dependent on fundraising, calls for a single new middle school building and a new Upper School stadium in Palm Beach Gardens with bleachers for 900 spectators, locker rooms, a press box and a ticket office. Alongside the buildings, the school is seeking $15 million for its endowment, split evenly among faculty and programs, financial aid and unrestricted funds.

Founded in 1960, The Benjamin School is an independent, coeducational day school serving students from age 3 through grade 12 across its two campuses in North Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.

How to see it

Families curious about the new building have a near-term chance to walk through the Upper School campus. Benjamin's Upper School Open House is Friday, October 23, 2026, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Grandiflora Road campus, and registration is required through the school's website. The Lower School Open House follows on Friday, November 6, and the Middle School Open House on Thursday, November 12, both from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.

  • What: Stiles-Nicholson Innovation Center, a two-story STEAM building with six labs, a makerspace and a glass-enclosed equipment room
  • Where: The Benjamin School Upper School, 4875 Grandiflora Road, Palm Beach Gardens
  • Opened: In use since the start of the 2026 to 2027 school year; ribbon-cutting held October 14, 2026
  • See it: Upper School Open House, Friday, October 23, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., registration required
  • Phone: Upper School, 561-472-5998

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