Florida cabinet approves land swap to benefit College of Business

Florida cabinet approves land swap to benefit College of Business

"The Florida Cabinet today approved a major land swap that will enable Florida State University to build a new home for its nationally ranked College of Business.
The swap — between the city of Tallahassee’s Community Redevelopment Agency and the state of Florida’s Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund — allows the state to receive a 5.34-acre parcel located on the south side of the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center and bordered by West Madison Street to the north and Gaines Street to the south.
In exchange for this property, the state will give up three nearby parcels totaling 5.74 acres and also pay $960,000 to the CRA. Once under state ownership, the 5.34-acre parcel, known as the “O’Connell property,” will be placed on the university’s master lease and become part of the campus.
“This land swap is an important step in our plans to move the College of Business further toward its goal of preeminence,” said President John Thrasher. “This new building, coupled with the outstanding instruction that our students already receive, will make a tremendous difference in accomplishing that goal. As the college’s reputation continues to grow, business graduates will take advantage of better, higher-paying job opportunities.”
Since acquiring the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, Florida State has been actively planning the Arena District development, a large-scale, mixed-use development that includes academic, hospitality, athletics, conference and convention, retail and other uses. The addition of the Arena District will be the next major development initiative of the university and will complement the recent emergence of the “Madison Mile” and College Town, a district of shops, restaurants and student housing between the Civic Center and Doak Campbell Stadium. The acquisition of the O’Connell property is the latest piece of this redevelopment puzzle to be put into place.
The College of Business plans to construct a $75-million, 225,000-square-foot building on the site that will house all of its programs, including the Dedman School of Hospitality. The college will raise money for the building over the next two years and expects to break ground in the fall of 2016 and to move into the building in fall 2018.
“This new building is crucial to competing successfully with other top-tier business schools for world-class faculty and the best students,” said Caryn Beck-Dudley, dean of the College of Business. “The new building will give us the ability to greatly expand professional development, collaboration and networking opportunities for students, and better prepare them for the jobs of the future. This building is also our legacy to the next generation of students who expect and deserve a stellar education at Florida State.”
The College of Business enjoys national standing in several rankings.

• U.S. News & World Report’s 2015 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” ranks the college’s undergraduate programs at No. 40 among public universities and No. 62 in the nation among all programs, both public and private. What’s more, the undergraduate program in the Dr. William T. Hold/The National Alliance Program in Risk Management and Insurance ranks No. 5 among public universities and No. 6 among all institutions. The real estate program is ranked No. 9 among public schools and No. 12 among all universities.
• Business Insider ranks the college at No. 18 on a list of the top 25 business schools nationwide with the best value.
• Public Accounting Report’s 33^rd Annual Professors Survey-2014 ranks the college’s accounting program among the top 50 in the nation. The college earned the No. 43 spot in the report’s Top 50 Undergraduate Rankings and the No. 35 spot in its Top 50 Master’s Rankings."

FSU gets major boost in new business school project

"Cabinet approves CRA-FSU Land-swap

The Community Redevelopment Agency can begin entertaining ideas for development on two locations considered prime properties for retail and housing near Cascades Park, and Florida State University now has the leverage to ramp up fundraising efforts for its new College of Business following approval of a land swap Wednesday by the Florida Cabinet.

Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet approved without much discussion an agreement the CRA made in April to accept the Firestone Building and the nearby Bloxham Annex set of buildings on East Gaines Street from FSU in exchange for the city giving FSU a 5.3 acre wooded lot next to the Civic Center, known as the O’Connell site. The Firestone and Bloxham buildings are appraised at $4.85 million, while the vacant lot near the Civic Center is appraised at $5.8 million. FSU agreed to make up the difference with a $960,000 cash payment to the CRA.

The $960,000 payment will go back into the Frenchtown/Southside Community Redevelopment Trust Fund and made available for development improvements in those two districts.

FSU President John Thrasher said building a new College of Business on the property, which also includes the Dedman School of Hospitality, will be a “fantastic project for Florida State University.”

Thrasher, who is a graduate of the College of Business and its law school, noted the business program’s strong track record of placing graduates in jobs shortly after graduation. He said the new facility will bring “world-class entrepreneurial opportunities here in Florida.”

“We think the return on the investment will be very positive for our graduates,” he said.

Thrasher estimated the cost of the new school to be $75 million and said that fundraising is ongoing to secure that money since he hopes that private money will cover a major portion of the costs, with the rest coming from Public Education Capital Outlay, or PECO funds.

“We are anxious to get started on this project,” he said. He told Cabinet members that FSU plans to get the school built without including a major tuition increase.

The swap also is critical to FSU’s plan to redevelop the area around the Civic Center, which it also owns, into an arena district. FSU’s future plans include adding a hotel/convention center and some combination of retail and residential projects. It also would become a key element in the university’s vision to create an FSU-driven development connection between the Civic Center and Doak Campbell Stadium.

Thrasher said the new school construction is an important step in this development. “The first priority is to get the building built and then look at other (development) details,” he said after the Cabinet meeting.

Dennis Bailey, FSU’s senior associate vice president for facilities, said the College of Business would take up about half of the 5.3 acre property. He said the design work could be completed next year. In a separate release, FSU said it expects to break ground in the fall of 2016 and move to the new site in fall 2018.

“Now that we have the land, that makes it easier to request funds,” Bailey said. “I think the Arena District development will spawn off other developments.”

The city has been supportive of the land exchange as it looks to looks to ride the momentum generated by Cascades Park and nearby Gaines Street redevelopments. Interests have already been expressed by developers interested in retail and possible housing projects going in the area.

Mayor-Elect Andrew Gillum, who has been the city’s lead person in negotiations with FSU, said the CRA now will use a 60-day window to examine the possibilities for the Firestone and Bloxham properties and determine the best uses for future development.

Developers and others already have expressed interest in the site.

He said he could envision “some form of mixed-use market-rate housing, not student housing and probably some commercial and the potential for some other public use like a museum,” to be included in the development."