The University of Central Florida on Feb. 19 got the thumbs up from the Florida Board of Governors on a $5.8 million funding request that would kick off the first building in UCF's planned $207 million downtown Orlando campus.
The board today approved $2.8 million and requested legislative authorization for UCF to use up to $3 million from the operating appropriation for a total of $5.8 to be added to its 2015-16 fixed capital outlay legislative budget request so the school can begin planning its proposed 20-acre downtown campus.
Part of that funding will go toward planning what's being called Building A, a proposed $57.8 million joint Valencia College/UCF student support and services building — the first of two buildings the college wants to build in downtown's Creative Village development.
"We are very pleased with the Board of Governors' unanimous decision," said UCF spokesman Grant Heston in a prepared statement. "And we are thankful for the dozens of local supporters who joined us at today's meeting. This decision allows us to continue planning for a downtown campus, which will benefit students and our community."
The project has not received any capital appropriations, but UCF got $2 million in operating appropriations from the 2014 Legislature to do a feasibility study for its planned downtown campus.
A second facility, the $78 million Building B for UCF space, also was mentioned during the meeting as a near-future project, but the college wasn't seeking funding to plan that building yet.
The board also spent a lot of time discussing the need for student housing, something UCF said was part of the overall plan.
The new downtown campus is slated to have 13,000 students and is being described as a project that would change the landscape of downtown radically. Decisions about which academic programs will move downtown are expected in late spring 2015.
Check out some of our recent headlines on the project:
Two key things Central Florida needs from federal, state government in 2015
Interested in UCF's proposed downtown campus? New website highlights progress
UCF may have tough time getting state funds for downtown Orlando campus