Orlando commissioners vote

unanimously to give 10.9 acres, valued at $14.6 million, to the University of Central Florida.

Orlando city commissioners handed over public land valued at $14.6 million to the University of Central Florida on Monday, part of a larger pledge that city leaders made a year ago to help launch the school’s downtown campus.

The City Council voted unanimously to give the 10.9 acres to UCF. It’s a large chunk of the planned 68-acre Creative Village, which will bring 7,700 UCF and Valencia College students to downtown.

The Creative Village has been touted as a major element in the city’s plan to revitalize the west side of downtown. In addition to educational offerings, the project will also include affordable housing and is expected to bring 2,000 jobs, according to city estimates.

“I do believe this is a great project that is going to be truly the anchor for education in the Parramore area,” said Commissioner Regina Hill, who represents the west Orlando neighborhood on the council.

“We’re so excited about this campus being embedded in this community,” said Thad Seymour, vice provost for UCF’s downtown campus.

The land handed over Monday includes the current site of UCF’s Center for Emerging Media and the Nap Ford Community School, which the city said is expected to move after the current school year.

In February 2016, commissioners approved $75 million in commitments to the project, including more than $42 million in land and property, plus infrastructure work. It was seen as a vote of confidence for the project at a time when funding and state approval were still uncertain.

The following month, the campus won approval from the Florida Board of Governors. Soon afterward, $20 million in state money for the project survived Gov. Rick Scott’s veto pen, clearing the path forward.

Monday’s vote comes as construction of the Creative Village is expected to ramp up in the coming months. In January, the city created a new committee to streamline permitting for the project. That panel met for the first time a week ago.

Officials will break ground for the downtown Orlando campus May 11, before starting construction this summer. The campus, centered on a new $60 million academic building, is expected to open in August 2019.

It will become home to several UCF programs, including social work, legal studies and the Nicholson School of Communication’s bachelor's degree program in human communication. Valencia will also move its hospitality and culinary programs downtown.

“We believe, over time, like great universities around the world, we will become an intellectual anchor to an innovation district that will have an impact way beyond the classrooms,” Seymour said.

Mayor Buddy Dyer cited the impact of Rollins College’s campus in downtown Winter Park, with an enrollment of less than half of that expected at downtown UCF, as evidence of how the new campus could shape Orlando’s west side.

“When we open, we’re going to have a double-sized Rollins College right in the heart of downtown Orlando,” he said.