A former post office building that now houses the news-gathering operations of the Journal-World, 6News and World Online has been selected to receive one of the state’s top historic preservation awards.

The News Center, 645 N.H., has been selected as a recipient of the 2004 Awards for Excellence by the Kansas Preservation Alliance.

The building was honored for a major renovation project that was completed in 2001. The World Company expanded and renovated the approximately 28,000-square-foot building to accommodate its growing news gathering operations.

Dolph C. Simons Jr., chairman of The World Company, credited Treanor Architects, Lawrence; Harris Construction Co., Lawrence; and Trapp & Co., a Kansas City, Mo., interior design firm; for the project’s success.

“We’re proud and highly complimented to receive this recognition,” Simons said. “Those who worked with the many facets of the project all deserve the credit for this recognition.”

Michael Treanor, president of Treanor Architects, said the project was a good example of how historic preservation efforts could be successful.

“Parts of the building were really a leaky mess,” Treanor said. “The challenge was to get it back to functioning like a modern building but keep its historic fabric. It is really very cool how it turned out.”

The building was the first federal building erected in Lawrence when it was constructed in 1906 for the U.S. Postal Service.

The building was expanded in 1930 and served more than 60 years as a post office. It was purchased from the state and Kansas University in 1999 by a group of private investors, including individuals associated with The World Company.

Bo Harris, chief executive of Harris Construction Co., said the fact the project involved a once-prominent public building made it unique.

“I know that the people who have been in Lawrence a length of time have gotten a real kick out of going back into the building and seeing what its use is now,” Harris said.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The renovation project will be recognized at a 5 p.m. reception Thursday at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum.