https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/the-gateway-project.216247/
I'm not sure how much this has been discussed, so here is some information on it. Folks have described it as a "game changer" in terms of expanding FSU's downtown campus.
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Kevin Graham, executive director of FSU’s Real Estate Foundation, first approached Blueprint officials February 2017 on FSU’s plans to develop nearly 900-acres it owns in southwest Tallahassee. FSU's vision is to grow academic programs, research, recreation and other future needs while expanding its landlocked downtown campus.
The proposal also was important in the long term development and expansion at the Don Veller Seminole Golf Course, new buildings in Innovation Park and expansion at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
“On behalf of the university, we are grateful for everyone’s efforts,” Graham said after the vote. “This brings (the community) to a new phase in the planning process.”
The proposal also was important in the long term development and expansion at the Don Veller Seminole Golf Course, new buildings in Innovation Park and expansion at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
“On behalf of the university, we are grateful for everyone’s efforts,” Graham said after the vote. “This brings (the community) to a new phase in the planning process.”
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/n...-new-sw-campus-road-blueprint-plan/387869002/
According to blueprint2000.org, the budget for the project will be 58.7 million dollars and will result into a cohesive east-west corridor that will stretch across Lake Bradford Road to seamlessly connect FAMU, FSU, Innovation Park, and the Airport to the urban core.
City Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley has a positive perspective on how the road will help the south side. “This project will be huge improvement, we want to make a good impression because universities have people who visit here from all the world. The whole south side will benefit in terms of restaurants, and business being built to accommodate the visitors” said Lindley.
The second component of the vote was approving an agreement requiring FSU to contribute 3 million dollars toward building the new road. From the perspective of FAMU and FSU, the project can be viewed as a win-win. The proposal also consisted of development and expansion of FSU and FAMU College of Engineering.
Some of Tallahassee’s prominent assets reside on the south side of towns such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Morcom Aquatic Center, WFSU Public Broadcast Center, and FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. These assets are a few that employ thousands of residents and attract visitors.
One of the core highlights of the proposal was to ensure visitors arriving and departing via the Tallahassee International Airport travel a pleasing route that reflects the local beauty on any route taken. Going forward the transformation is something some is still not willing to make. Efforts in the past decade have resulted in the transformation of well-constructed Cascade Park and Gaines Street. Projects can transform the quality of life for everyone in a city. As for the 2020 Gateway Project all Tallahassee can do is wait to see the results.
City Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley has a positive perspective on how the road will help the south side. “This project will be huge improvement, we want to make a good impression because universities have people who visit here from all the world. The whole south side will benefit in terms of restaurants, and business being built to accommodate the visitors” said Lindley.
The second component of the vote was approving an agreement requiring FSU to contribute 3 million dollars toward building the new road. From the perspective of FAMU and FSU, the project can be viewed as a win-win. The proposal also consisted of development and expansion of FSU and FAMU College of Engineering.
Some of Tallahassee’s prominent assets reside on the south side of towns such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Morcom Aquatic Center, WFSU Public Broadcast Center, and FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. These assets are a few that employ thousands of residents and attract visitors.
One of the core highlights of the proposal was to ensure visitors arriving and departing via the Tallahassee International Airport travel a pleasing route that reflects the local beauty on any route taken. Going forward the transformation is something some is still not willing to make. Efforts in the past decade have resulted in the transformation of well-constructed Cascade Park and Gaines Street. Projects can transform the quality of life for everyone in a city. As for the 2020 Gateway Project all Tallahassee can do is wait to see the results.
http://www.thefamuanonline.com/news/view.php/1032651/2020-Gateway-Project-approved-after-26-m
[T]his opportunity can and will literally transform a key part of our community in ways that will have a positive lasting impact for generations to come.
As we saw with the efforts to transform Gaines Street or to turn a polluted brownfield into the world-class urban Cascades Park, these kinds of projects are about more than creating new roadways or parks. They are about improving and even transforming the quality of life for everyone who calls this area home.
Florida State University is growing. Leon County is growing. We must adapt to that growth and do so in a way that embraces change and enhances our quality of life. To that end, we know we must expand and extend our roads both within and around the southwest parts of our campus and we must improve the corridor from the airport to downtown.
Consider this: The southwest campus includes some of our community’s most treasured assets: the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (the “Mag Lab”), the WFSU Public Broadcast Center, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, the Don Veller Seminole Golf Course, Morcom Aquatic Center, the FSU Sportsplex and the beautiful Seminole Reservation.
These are just a few of the things that employ thousands of residents and draw even more visitors. Thus, the need for serious traffic improvements. But it would be a failure if this project became just about roads and road expansion, or was done in isolation without considering the needs identified by our city, our county and our intergovernmental agencies.
To that end, as the city and county focus on improving the road system from the airport to downtown, we are proposing an integrated Airport Gateway project that will tie together the major destinations of the Capitol, our two major universities, Innovation Park, the Mag Lab, Gaines Street and the Arena District.
By tying these together and aligning FSU’s needs with the community’s desires, we show our citizens that the combined forces of FSU and our local government can come together to benefit the entire community.
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2018/03/01/opinion-time-gateway-district-now/376477002/As we saw with the efforts to transform Gaines Street or to turn a polluted brownfield into the world-class urban Cascades Park, these kinds of projects are about more than creating new roadways or parks. They are about improving and even transforming the quality of life for everyone who calls this area home.
Florida State University is growing. Leon County is growing. We must adapt to that growth and do so in a way that embraces change and enhances our quality of life. To that end, we know we must expand and extend our roads both within and around the southwest parts of our campus and we must improve the corridor from the airport to downtown.
Consider this: The southwest campus includes some of our community’s most treasured assets: the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (the “Mag Lab”), the WFSU Public Broadcast Center, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, the Don Veller Seminole Golf Course, Morcom Aquatic Center, the FSU Sportsplex and the beautiful Seminole Reservation.
These are just a few of the things that employ thousands of residents and draw even more visitors. Thus, the need for serious traffic improvements. But it would be a failure if this project became just about roads and road expansion, or was done in isolation without considering the needs identified by our city, our county and our intergovernmental agencies.
To that end, as the city and county focus on improving the road system from the airport to downtown, we are proposing an integrated Airport Gateway project that will tie together the major destinations of the Capitol, our two major universities, Innovation Park, the Mag Lab, Gaines Street and the Arena District.
By tying these together and aligning FSU’s needs with the community’s desires, we show our citizens that the combined forces of FSU and our local government can come together to benefit the entire community.
The project is estimated to cost Blueprint nearly $60 million, as well as $3 million for Florida State University. The agency expects it to improve seven miles of roads, build 12 miles of sidewalks, bike paths and trails, and create 3,300 direct and indirect jobs.
http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Gateway-District-jumps-latest-hurdle--475617853.html
The airport gateway project is a plan to build a road -- or a gateway -- that makes it easier for those who wish to travel to the airport better. Since FSU is bringing money to the table -- $9 million to be exact -- they also bring plans that show a road to help students from FSU’s southwest campus get to the main campus. According to the objective of the project, it also brings improvements along Lake Bradford Road and complement the nearby Gaines Street redevelopment and support further redevelopment by creating an aesthetically pleasing and safe pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular infrastructure within walking distance to FSU, FAMU, and Gaines Street.
http://www.thefamuanonline.com/news/view.php/1031414/Commissioner-Proctor-calls-out-FSU-Presi
Here’s what’s being considered:
The original Airport Gateway Project includes improvements on Springhill and Lake Bradford Roads from Tallahassee International Airport to Gaines Street, approximately three miles. The route would include new landscaping, bicycle lanes, potentially new travel lanes and a median along Springhill. Added to the Lake Bradford portion would be landscaping, bike lanes and roundabouts leading to Gaines Street.
The estimated cost is $58.7 million. This includes money for right-of-way purchases, but no money is allocated for the widening.
The original Airport Gateway Project includes improvements on Springhill and Lake Bradford Roads from Tallahassee International Airport to Gaines Street, approximately three miles. The route would include new landscaping, bicycle lanes, potentially new travel lanes and a median along Springhill. Added to the Lake Bradford portion would be landscaping, bike lanes and roundabouts leading to Gaines Street.
The estimated cost is $58.7 million. This includes money for right-of-way purchases, but no money is allocated for the widening.
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Funded through the 1-percent sales tax extension called Blueprint 2020 approved by voters in November 2014, the $58.7 million gateway project will create a much-improved route from Tallahassee International Airport into the downtown area and to both Florida State and Florida A&M universities — something most everyone agrees has been needed for decades. Current routes from the airport through the light-industrial section of Capital Circle Southwest don’t exactly show off the capital city’s charms.
“The current route is certainly less than desirable,” City Commissioner Gil Ziffer said. “The route proposed provides some level of concern for existing neighborhoods that we have to be mindful of, but there’s no doubt we can make it better than it is now.”
The project includes improvements to vehicular lanes along Lake Bradford and Springhill roads, with landscaping as well as bicycle and pedestrian lanes. Along Springhill between Orange Avenue and Capital Circle Southwest, a median is planned that will allow for additional lanes to be added later within the existing footprint. On the stretch of Lake Bradford Road between Gaines Street and Orange Avenue, roundabouts will be added at key intersections, as well. A roundabout is also planned for the intersection of Gaines Street and Stadium Drive.
Synergy bolsters multiple projects
By connecting the Airport Gateway project with other improvements planned for the area, Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency is leveraging its assets for greater return. For example, the last section of Capital Circle Southwest that hasn’t been widened and landscaped — t
“The current route is certainly less than desirable,” City Commissioner Gil Ziffer said. “The route proposed provides some level of concern for existing neighborhoods that we have to be mindful of, but there’s no doubt we can make it better than it is now.”
The project includes improvements to vehicular lanes along Lake Bradford and Springhill roads, with landscaping as well as bicycle and pedestrian lanes. Along Springhill between Orange Avenue and Capital Circle Southwest, a median is planned that will allow for additional lanes to be added later within the existing footprint. On the stretch of Lake Bradford Road between Gaines Street and Orange Avenue, roundabouts will be added at key intersections, as well. A roundabout is also planned for the intersection of Gaines Street and Stadium Drive.
Synergy bolsters multiple projects
By connecting the Airport Gateway project with other improvements planned for the area, Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency is leveraging its assets for greater return. For example, the last section of Capital Circle Southwest that hasn’t been widened and landscaped — t
he section from Orange Avenue to Crawfordville Road that includes the airport — is due to be improved in the next few years. Planned widening of Orange Avenue, not a Blueprint project, is being factored in, as well.
FAMU Way, which runs west from Railroad Avenue and curves south, paralleling Eugenia Street, will intersect with Lake Bradford Road near its current intersection with Gamble Street. Across Lake Bradford Road, improvements will continue on Stuckey Avenue as it winds through several streets in the Providence neighborhood, eventually connecting on Roberts Avenue to a new road through FSU property.
The collaboration involved in the project is one of its standout features, with key stakeholders in Southwest Tallahassee coming together in ways the community has not seen on previous projects.
“FSU needs a road through its property near where Alumni Village once stood and the existing golf course, which it wants to redevelop with a Jack Nicklaus design,” said Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier. “It is donating the right-of-way for the road, which will become a Blueprint road.”
Better transportation as recruitment tool
Having better access to the airport will help not only FSU but also Innovation Park, a zone that was created by special charter in 1978 by the state to attract private companies to work with university researchers. Dozier, who has served on the Innovation Park board for seven years, several as its chair, said having better ground transportation to and from the airport will help recruit new tenants and more jobs to Innovation Park. Improvements under way at the airport, including work to establish a Foreign Trade Zone there, also will help.
“We have room to attract more manufacturing to Innovation Park. We also have 12 acres that could be used for commercial development,” Dozier said. “If we want to be a world-class research center like the Research Triangle, getting our transportation issues resolved, both ground and air, is key.”
Kevin Graham, executive director of FSU’s Real Estate Foundation, sees the collaboration as a win for everyone.
“Right now, FSU has academic, athletic, research and administration offices on the southwest campus. Pottsdamer (Street) is a main thoroughfare from Orange Avenue when it should be a residential road for the Callen neighborhood,” he said. “The same with Levy, coming off Lake Bradford Road, in the Providence neighborhood. If we can relieve some of the traffic with the new road, those streets can become residential again.”
City Commissioner Curtis Richardson served on the Blueprint 2000 committee and on the committee that successfully campaigned for Blueprint 2020, which extended the sales tax through 2040. The Blueprint 2020 proposal called for Springhill Road to be the single gateway from the airport, he said, but FSU’s offer to provide right-of-way through its property for a road and the creation of a Gateway District brought south Lake Bradford Road into play.
“While the Gateway District will be an opportunity to see growth and revitalization in the southwest sector of the city, there are some details to be worked out,” Richardson said.
Changes from the Blueprint 2020 plan approved by voters are subject to approval by the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency, an oversight board of city and county officials currently chaired by Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley.
“It’s got a few hurdles but I think they’ve actually got a pretty good plan,” Lindley said. “Good signage to explain alternate routes can make a big difference in how you moderate traffic flow.”
She noted that the latest tweak of Blueprint earmarks 12 percent of the sales-tax revenue for economic development, executed by the Office of Economic Vitality.
“Originally, Blueprint was all infrastrßucture all the time, focusing on recreation, transportation and the environment,” Lindley said. “Once the southwest infrastructure improvements are in place, the poverty and the need for small businesses need to be addressed, and this can be a piece of it. There’s potential for private development partnerships.”
FAMU Way, which runs west from Railroad Avenue and curves south, paralleling Eugenia Street, will intersect with Lake Bradford Road near its current intersection with Gamble Street. Across Lake Bradford Road, improvements will continue on Stuckey Avenue as it winds through several streets in the Providence neighborhood, eventually connecting on Roberts Avenue to a new road through FSU property.
The collaboration involved in the project is one of its standout features, with key stakeholders in Southwest Tallahassee coming together in ways the community has not seen on previous projects.
“FSU needs a road through its property near where Alumni Village once stood and the existing golf course, which it wants to redevelop with a Jack Nicklaus design,” said Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier. “It is donating the right-of-way for the road, which will become a Blueprint road.”
Better transportation as recruitment tool
Having better access to the airport will help not only FSU but also Innovation Park, a zone that was created by special charter in 1978 by the state to attract private companies to work with university researchers. Dozier, who has served on the Innovation Park board for seven years, several as its chair, said having better ground transportation to and from the airport will help recruit new tenants and more jobs to Innovation Park. Improvements under way at the airport, including work to establish a Foreign Trade Zone there, also will help.
“We have room to attract more manufacturing to Innovation Park. We also have 12 acres that could be used for commercial development,” Dozier said. “If we want to be a world-class research center like the Research Triangle, getting our transportation issues resolved, both ground and air, is key.”
Kevin Graham, executive director of FSU’s Real Estate Foundation, sees the collaboration as a win for everyone.
“Right now, FSU has academic, athletic, research and administration offices on the southwest campus. Pottsdamer (Street) is a main thoroughfare from Orange Avenue when it should be a residential road for the Callen neighborhood,” he said. “The same with Levy, coming off Lake Bradford Road, in the Providence neighborhood. If we can relieve some of the traffic with the new road, those streets can become residential again.”
City Commissioner Curtis Richardson served on the Blueprint 2000 committee and on the committee that successfully campaigned for Blueprint 2020, which extended the sales tax through 2040. The Blueprint 2020 proposal called for Springhill Road to be the single gateway from the airport, he said, but FSU’s offer to provide right-of-way through its property for a road and the creation of a Gateway District brought south Lake Bradford Road into play.
“While the Gateway District will be an opportunity to see growth and revitalization in the southwest sector of the city, there are some details to be worked out,” Richardson said.
Changes from the Blueprint 2020 plan approved by voters are subject to approval by the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency, an oversight board of city and county officials currently chaired by Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley.
“It’s got a few hurdles but I think they’ve actually got a pretty good plan,” Lindley said. “Good signage to explain alternate routes can make a big difference in how you moderate traffic flow.”
She noted that the latest tweak of Blueprint earmarks 12 percent of the sales-tax revenue for economic development, executed by the Office of Economic Vitality.
“Originally, Blueprint was all infrastrßucture all the time, focusing on recreation, transportation and the environment,” Lindley said. “Once the southwest infrastructure improvements are in place, the poverty and the need for small businesses need to be addressed, and this can be a piece of it. There’s potential for private development partnerships.”
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