By James Bennett III
Mayor Rick Kriseman, USF President Judy Genshaft and Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock are all expected to speak at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new residence hall on April 25.
Ceremony attendees will be able to take a tour of the facility using virtual reality goggles and their smartphones.
The six-story building is being constructed on Sixth Avenue S and between Third and Fourth streets, next to the soccer field and adjacent to the parking garage. It is expected to be complete by July 2020.
Names for the $33-million building are still being considered.
About 60 to 75 percent of the 375 beds in the new residential hall will be in private rooms, with four beds and two bathrooms per unit. The other units will be two-bed, one-bath with bedrooms shared between two students.
About a third of the bedrooms in the single-bedroom units will be transformable to hold two students instead of one.
The 125,000-square-foot design would increase the number of beds on campus by 70 percent and have study areas, community laundry rooms and a student lounge on each floor.
The building’s full-service dining facility will seat 400 people. It will have longer hours than The Reef and a variety of meal plans available.
“This is a historic event for USF St. Petersburg,” Tadlock said in a press release. “This new residence hall and dining facility will not only provide much-needed affordable living and dining options for our students— it will foster a greater sense of community and help us with our efforts to continue improving student success.”
The new residence hall, which was funded by USF Tampa’s housing revenue could offset the university’s dropping enrollment.
“Currently, only 16 to 18 percent of our students live in on-campus housing,” said Carrie O’Brion, USF St. Petersburg’s marketing and communications director, in an email. “The demand for student housing continues to grow, and we believe that prospective students may be more attracted to USF St. Petersburg if there are more options for on-campus living.”
