UCF gives approval for $66M space
The University of Central Florida is pushing forward with plans to build a new downtown Orlando campus, as the Board of Trustees approved construction of a new academic building, renovation of an existing one and a parking garage.
Construction on the $66.38 million Dr. Phillips Academic Commons began last year, but trustees hadn’t given their blessing for the university to move ahead with that specific building until they had a special meeting last week to approve that project and three others related to the downtown campus.
The downtown campus is expected to open next August and will serve more than 7,000 UCF and Valencia College students. The 148,000-square-foot Dr. Phillips Academic Commons will include classrooms, group workspaces and an open-air courtyard.
The university is expected to
spend more on the academic building, which was initially estimated to cost $60 million. University leaders attributed the increase to higher-than-expected costs for construction, furniture, fixtures and equipment. They’ll use flexible funds not designated for other purposes to pay for the project.
Even though construction on the building started last year, trustees didn’t specifically approve it until Friday, when they did so “out of an abundance of transparency.” It had been included on a list of campus projects that trustees did approve.
Board of Trustees Chairman Marcos Marchena said university staff was seeking board members’ approval for the project simply to make sure their official blessing was on the record.
The move came a month after the University of Central Florida publicly admitted it had misused $38 million in state money designated for operating expenses to build Trevor Colbourn Hall, a new academic building on the main campus. The university later acknowledged it had used an additional $10 million intended for operating expenses on construction and improvements to existing buildings.
Marchena stressed there’s no reason to think money was misused on the downtown campus.
As of 2017, UCF trustees must give approval for projects exceeding $2 million in construction costs and all changes to projects that increase the expected costs by more than 10 percent.
Board members also last week approved the renovation of an existing downtown building and construction of a 580-space parking garage. Like the academic building, those projects were also included on a list of campus projects but weren’t approved individually by the board. Trustees also approved the installation of elements such as utilities and landscaping at the downtown campus. Those details had not yet come before the board.
Those projects are estimated to cost about $30 million.