The university will put a newly purchased building to use and expand plans for a residence hall.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published June 21, 2004
[Times file photo: Dan McDuffie]
Saint Leo University's new dormitories have three stories and feature the same apartment-style living as other dorms. The next, four-story residence hall will open in fall 2005. All the rooms will be singles for upperclassmen.
ST. LEO - Growth in east Pasco County hasn't eluded Saint Leo University, and the school is trying to keep pace as its enrollment climbs.
Since completion of the first of a two-phase dormitory project last fall, university leaders have been wowed by the response.
The new dorms filled all 180 units in the first year. So the next residence hall will be bigger than first projected.
And the former nursing home in Dade City that the school bought at auction last year will be occupied later this summer.
Saint Leo spokeswoman Jacqui Cash said change is coming rapidly.
"The university is experiencing some amazing positive growth. Every year it seems like we're saying we have record numbers of applicants," she said.
Construction is set to begin in September on the two newest dormitories, four-story buildings facing the lake with a total of 323 beds. All the rooms will be singles for upperclassmen with a kitchen, living room and bathroom for every four students.
By the time the dorm opens in fall 2005, the school will be able to house about 1,000 students in 10 dorms, Cash said.
Frank Mezzanini, vice president for business affairs, said an emphasis has been placed on making the rural, rolling campus a desirable place to live and learn.
"The students really like the campus life," he said. "It's not just the buildings that make them want to stay."
Still, the response to the new dorms took officials by surprise.
"What got us thinking that we should go further is, we filled the first two buildings in the first year, and we did not anticipate doing that. We thought it would take longer," he said.
"The students that we expected to move off campus, never moved off campus."
St. Leo town commissioners still must approve the altered plans for the dorm. In a recent meeting, the board indicated it wants the school to go through another public hearing process with its proposals, which expand the dorm from three stories to four and add substantial capacity and parking.
"I don't think it's a minor modification," town attorney Richard Chritton said.
Commissioners, however, expressed no objection to the changes.
The dorm project's original cost of $12-million rose to $14-million with the expanded plans. Mezzanini said the school will borrow $12-million and use $2-million from reserves.
The university played a surprising hand in November when it bid $250,000 one rainy morning for the defunct Pasco Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Fifth Street.
The school had long intended to establish a presence in Dade City, and it bought the old nursing home with no immediate plans for its use.
But by late July, the building, next to the Pasco County administration building, will serve as a home base for the school's approximately 10,000 distance-learning students.
Mezzanini said pieces of several departments will move into the building, including registrar, business office and financial aid workers to serve those students.
It also will house a print shop and a couple of classrooms, likely to be used for weekend classes.
The 8,000-square-foot structure built in the 1960s is undergoing renovations now.
"Basically, we went down to the cinder blocks," Mezzanini said. "Now we have to build it back up again."
Exterior renovations haven't begun, but when complete, the building will reflect the St. Leo campus, with a Mediterranean facade.
"It's important for people to understand (the building) is still part of the campus," he said.
The old nursing home, abandoned since 2001, is thought to have been among the first in the county to serve white and black residents together. Mezzanini said a plaque will commemorate the building's historical significance.
- Molly Moorhead can be reached at 352 521-6521 or toll free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6521. Her e-mail address is moorhead@sptimes.com
