UT Announces New Academic Building and Parking Garage Expansion

In an effort to support academic and administrative space needs, and to provide additional parking, The University of Tampa has announced it will build a new, seven-story, multiuse structure on campus. The building will include three floors of academic and administrative space, including a new, state of the art home for UT’s Sykes College of Business Entrepreneurship Center, and four floors of parking.

The structure will extend from the Thomas Parking Garage on campus. The building will be built to bridge over North A Street, and onto the open lot just west of the new residence hall.

The three stories of the new facility — approximately 60,000 square feet — will house additional classrooms, faculty offices, student meeting and study areas, a Campus Safety Center and the Entrepreneurship Center. The new facility will also enlarge the Thomas Parking Garage by 400 spaces to accommodate a total of 1,200 parking spots.

And, for UT students needing a late-night coffee break, a café with indoor and outdoor seating will be situated on the first floor.

The Campus Safety Center will also be situated on the first floor as a highly visible and accessible space for the Office of Campus Safety. The center will include a lobby, meeting and interview rooms, video monitoring room, evidence processing space and a 24-hour dispatch center. It will be equipped with functionality to respond to any incident on campus.

Classrooms in the new building will be constructed with active learning in mind, with built-in multimedia projectors, A/V systems and flexible seating arrangements.

The Entrepreneurship Center will be creatively designed to bring together prospective student entrepreneurs, educators and experienced executives to generate, define and develop entrepreneurial concepts and to launch new ventures.

“With this facility we hope to carve out a unique educational niche for interaction between UT’s entrepreneurially minded students and the Tampa Bay entrepreneur community,” Vaughn said. “This strong entrepreneurial environment will keep more bright young minds in the Tampa Bay area after graduation and contribute to economic development and startups in the region.”

The parking garage expansion is expected to be completed in late 2014. The academic and administrative spaces are expected to be completed in early 2015.

Construction of the building will be paid for through individual gifts and University funds.

In alignment with UT’s commitment to environmental stewardship, the building will be designed and constructed to be a candidate for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification of the U.S. Green Building Council. The new building will also be enhanced by a manicured park with seating and a water feature.

The Beck Group has been named to design and build the new structure.