Local architect hired for new College of Business building

A home for the College of Business came one step closer to realization on July 5 with the selection of local architecture firm Harvard Jolly to design the building.

The proposed $27.5 million project has been designated the top construction priority of the USF system. If everything goes to plan, the building could be occupied as soon as June 2014.

Along with providing a home for the College of Business, the building will provide the campus with its first large lecture halls. Each of the concept sketches provided in the Harvard Jolly proposal feature a 200- and a 100-seat auditorium. The absence of large lecture halls has made scheduling of on-site, lower division classes difficult.

Little is certain at this stage of development, but the college’s new digs likely will feature some of the tech included in the proposal document.  Integration with digital devices and iTunes U—Apple’s education distribution platform—interactive signage, and a large digital display similar to the nine-panel “wow wall” soon to be installed in the University Student Center can be expected.

Through the years, Harvard Jolly has left its mark on downtown St. Petersburg, having designed Sunken Gardens, The Pier, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Williams Park band shell, among others. Harvard Jolly was also hired to design the renovation of the Campus Activities Center, which will be renamed the Student Life Center when it re-opens in October.

Harvard Jolly has partnered with Ikon 5 Architects of Princeton, N.J., a firm that has designed the Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University, the Cornell School of Management and the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

Completion of the project may require support from the state legislature, where higher education capital projects for all but the newly formed Florida Polytechnic have proven a tough sell. Despite this, university staff members that oversee campus construction are confident the project will proceed.

Funding for the project will likely come from a combination of public expenditures and private donations. A benefit for the College of Business on September 20 honoring Gus A. Stavros, a long-time champion of business education and a major donor to the university, has already attracted some interest from the local business community.

Two years ago, Stavros and his family led the charge with a $125,000 donation toward the building, sponsoring one of the proposed conference rooms, and donating an additional $150,000 to endow entrepreneurship scholarships.

The university has also secured at least four “platinum” corporate donors—Raymond James, the Tampa Bay Times, Creative Contractors and Ajax Building Corporation—at $25,000 or more each.

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