The University of Florida Board of Trustees could make a long-awaited decision this week on site selection for a planned graduate campus in downtown Jacksonville.
UF and the city have been in talks for the past two years to build a campus in Jacksonville that would be financed with a mix of state, city and private funds.
When the UF board meets for a two-day meeting beginning Thursday, the board’s Governance, Government Relations and Internal Affairs Committee will vote on making the recommendation to the full board for a final vote the next day on the site.
City Council President Terrance Freeman listens as Mark Kaplan, vice president of government and community affairs at the University of Florida, talks about a potential UF campus in Jacksonville last March.
The description of the action item for the board’s agenda says that “through productive discussions between the university and the city of Jacksonville, the parties have identified a site they believe is ideal as the site for the university’s Jacksonville campus.”
UF City Campus: What courses would be taught in it?
“The university and the city are ready to immediately begin the work necessary to complete the transportation of the site,” the description says.
The board’s agenda packet does not identify the location. In the past, sites considered were in the LaVilla area of ​​downtown and at the sports complex where the Jacksonville Fairgrounds currently stands.
The prospect for the UF campus in Jacksonville led to $250 million in funding – $150 million from the state, $50 million from the city of Jacksonville and $50 million from private donors.
The University of Florida already has a longstanding presence in Jacksonville through UF Health Jacksonville and its teaching hospital affiliated with the UF Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.
This article originally appeared on the Florida Times-Union: University of Florida Board of Regents to Choose Jacksonville Campus Site
