Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Education

Everyone's bullish on USF St. Petersburg dorm

USF St. Petersburg, business owners and city officials are excited about the new home for 354 students ready next year.

By JON WILSON
Published April 3, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Already distinctly younger these days, the downtown crowd will get a 24/7 shot of college-age energy in a little more than a year.

The University of South Florida St. Petersburg expects to open its first new residence hall, beginning with the fall 2006 term.

The 354 students living in the seven-story building will put a further youthful spin on nearby business, say entrepreneurs and officials.

"We might have to put in another printer," said Rayhl Taber-Lang, who operates St. Pete's Finest coffee shop at 330 First Ave. S. The shop, about five blocks from the dorm site, has free Internet service for customers.

"We already get quite a few students that come in and hang out and drink (coffee). Sometimes they print out their papers," she said.

Officials turned ceremonial dirt Wednesday for the $18.3-million building at Fifth Avenue S and Second Street. The serious work is expected to start this month.

This fall the school probably will start accepting applications to live in the building, dubbed Residence Hall One. It will cost $4,494 to $6,067 for one school year's residence. The hall is open to freshmen through graduate students.

Abdul Nasser, USF St. Petersburg's associate vice president for administration and finance, chuckled when asked who might get priority for seventh-floor bay view rooms.

"We haven't decided that yet," Nasser said.

It was definitely a topic of banter at the groundbreaking.

Mayor Rick Baker, USF president Judy Genshaft and regional chancellor Karen White all joked about reserving seventh-floor suites.

City Council member John Bryan said the top floor will provide great vantage points to watch events like this weekend's Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Baker had an eye toward the changing business dynamic, too.

"I'm starting to hear talk about private residential facilities" for students, he said. "What this will do is change people's feelings about what USF St. Petersburg is. (People will think) "maybe I'll want to open a restaurant because there's going to be students 24 hours a day.' "

Said Mike Brennan, owner of Tangelo's restaurant at 226 First Ave. N: "It'll give us a shot in the arm."

Joe Pugliano opened the UPS store at 200 Second Avenue S in 1999. "We opened where we did in anticipation of expansion of the university," he said.

Currently, about 4,650 students attend USF St. Petersburg, Nasser said. Projected enrollment for 2008 is 6,200.

"Think of them not as college students but as customers," said Don Shea, president of the Downtown Partnership, a business alliance. He cited "longer lines at Starbucks," more nightlife, free wireless zones and Internet cafes.

"There'll be more money changing hands, and that's what commerce is all about," Shea said.

Another USF St. Petersburg groundbreaking will take place in a few weeks. This one will start a complex containing a parking garage, a Barnes & Noble bookstore and a police substation.

The activity coincides with USF St. Petersburg's 40th anniversary. When the campus began during the mid 1960s, a few students bunked in the old Bayboro Merchant Marine barracks, which also contained a library, classrooms, offices, a pool table and, from time to time, a kitchen and snack bar.

Residence Hall One is the first campus structure specifically built to house students. It is financed by a public bond issue and is expected to be self-supporting.

"It will create a boon in student life," said student government president Thomas Piccolo. He suggested it will herald new campus activity: more clubs, competitive intramurals and possibly the contemplation of fraternities and sororities.

City Council member Virginia Littrell went so far as to suggest the campus will become "the prime target" for students considering universities in Florida. She graduated from USF St. Petersburg in the 1980s.

Residence Hall One will include 79 four-bedroom apartments, seven double-bedroom apartments and one single-bedroom unit. Each apartment suite will be fully furnished with a living room and kitchen, and each floor will have a laundry room and study lounge.

[Last modified April 3, 2005, 00:10:19]