https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/what’s-happening-to-the-old-im-fields.221633/#post-3760198
My memory is not perfect either but here's what I recall...
Seminole Boosters sold an option on the land (lot 10) several years ago. The agreement allowed us to continue to park cars on the land until such time as the owner (I believe an apartment builder) chose to exercise their option to develop the property. The money we received for that option helped fund an athletic facility. Thus far, the owner has not exercised their option and therefore we have been allowed to continue to use the land for parking.
It was a good deal for athletics facilities and has been a good deal for our donors who are still able to park there. The day could come that the option is exercised and we HAVE TO relocate people in that lot but it hasn't happened yet.
At the time the option was sold I recall people in lot 10 got really nervous about what would happen. There were posts on this message board that the sky was falling and the lot would disappear from our use. It could have happened but didn't... thus far.
This is a really good example of the point Jamie wanted to make that things can change rapidly based on needs and opportunities. Opportunities arise to acquire land or to sell land and when the opportunity is right and athletics needs that money to fulfill a priority, we will monetize the investment (usually with a land lease) to meet that need. The advise to wait is not bad advise... unless of course the owner had opted to build.
To the best of my knowledge there are no plans to change lot 14 in the foreseeable future. So it will be a parking lot until the university chooses to do something with it that would preclude parking.
We are always in the process of acquisition and sale of property around the campus either for the benefit of parking, university expansion or as an investment for the scholarship endowment (College Town).
And changes occur in athletics and the university that are beyond our control. We lost parking spaces when the indoor practice facility was built and the practice fields were extended into what was a parking lot. Should the BOT and University decide to build the football operations building in the parking lot adjacent to those practice fields, we will lose another 140 parking spaces which will create a domino effect. Those spaces are now GC and athletics department spaces but if we build there, it will mean we'll have to make adjustments... and I don't want to speculate on that until it happens for fear people will act on whatever I type.
We do place a value on the use of our land holdings for donor parking and for future university expansion so it takes a major athletic need or a pretty penny to get us to part with any of our land holdings that we use for donors on game day.
Hope this helps.
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