One of Santa Fe’s six campus locations will be receiving a multimillion-dollar expansion.
On Thursday, Santa Fe College announced the expansion of the Blount Campus located in downtown Gainesville at 401 NW 6th St.
An expanded $36.4 million building will be the newest addition to the Santa Fe College downtown campus, said Jay Anderson, the Santa Fe College communications manager. The building will be three stories tall and 86,311 square feet.
The project will be funded primarily through donations and fundraising partnerships, although sources of funding are still a work in progress. Anderson said the expansion is planned to open in Spring 2021.
New classrooms, lab suites and business incubation spaces will be included to help students grow and manage business work, Anderson said. As of right now, the estimated number of classrooms, lab suites and business incubators is unknown, but college officials are hoping to have a rendering and more details by next month.
Blount Campus will also remain home to the Center for Innovation and Economic Development, a business incubation with Santa Fe students and the city of Gainesville, Anderson said. Currently, there is no estimate on how many people will work there.
This campus will have state of the art equipment to better serve students in East Gainesville who find it more difficult to go to the main Northwest Santa Fe College campus on 3000 NW 83rd St., Anderson said.
“I just think it’s fantastic that we’re expanding this facility and working on access and inclusion,” Anderson said.
Transportation to campuses outside of the main Northwest facility can be difficult to get to, said Alexander Fraser, a 19-year-old undecided Santa Fe College freshman. He said whenever he has to travel to another location, besides the Northwest one, he’ll spend more than $20 on an almost 30-minute drive.
“I’m looking forward to see what the campus will have in store when it’s done,” Fraser said.
Contact Dana Cassidy at dcassidy@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @danacassidy_
Pictured is the Santa Fe College clock tower.
