The University of Central Florida’s plans for a downtown campus gained more momentum today with the announcement of $2.5 million in new gifts from community partners.
The gifts will help fund construction of a new academic building that will be the centerpiece of the UCF Downtown campus serving about 7,700 UCF and Valencia College students.
The new contributions are:
- $1 million from Creative Village Development, LLC
- $500,000 from Orlando philanthropist Alan Ginsburg
- $300,000 from Orlando City Soccer Club
- $250,000 from CNL Financial Group
- $250,000 from Universal Orlando Foundation and Universal Orlando Resort
- $100,000 from Dr. Bruce Douglas of Winter Park
- $100,000 from Coca-Cola
These donations bring the total amount of community support to $13 million.
Today’s announcement comes just two days before university leaders will present plans for the campus on Wednesday in Orlando to the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System.
“Many of our community partners have responded generously to our request for $20 million in philanthropy supporting UCF Downtown,” UCF President John C. Hitt said. “We appreciate our community’s strong commitment as we look forward to making our case for a downtown campus to the Board of Governors.”
One-third of the new $60 million downtown academic building will be funded through community support. The university also is contributing $20 million from its resources and asking the state for an additional $20 million.
The Orlando Magic, CFE Federal Credit Union and Florida Hospital each pledged $1.5 million toward the construction of the new academic building that UCF would share with Valencia College. University leaders and board members have made personal contributions totaling more than $1 million. Orange County commissioners voted unanimously to contribute $3 million, and Valencia College will contribute $2 million.
Additionally, the value of in-kind contributions of land and infrastructure by the City of Orlando and the developers of Creative Village is approximately $75 million.
Pending approvals, the campus will open in fall 2018. UCF Downtown will offer students an innovative learning environment within walking distance of a wide array of internship and job opportunities in fields such as digital media, communication, public service and health-related programs.
UCF will share the campus with Valencia College, which will offer programs in digital media, health information technology and culinary and hospitality, including workforce training and other certificates to increase access to education in the immediate downtown area.
The new academic building at UCF Downtown will complement a renovated Center for Emerging Media building where UCF’s nationally ranked graduate video gaming school, the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, is located.