University of Florida says it closed on Downtown land for Jacksonville graduate campus

Higher Education

The University of Florida’s lead liaison for the university’s planned Downtown Jacksonville graduate campus said Dec. 19 that property transactions for the project have closed.

The campus site is in and around the historic Jacksonville Terminal rail station in LaVilla.

Kurt Dudas, vice president of strategic initiatives for UF, confirmed the closings by text message.

Dudas said it includes all six properties that the city of Jacksonville agreed to provide for the campus

The closings come about five weeks after Jacksonville City Council voted Nov. 12 to approve the final land transaction for the proposed campus.

In June, Council voted to convey the other five properties to UF along with $105 million in funding for the project.

The five properties in purple are what the city plans to initially provide for the University of Florida graduate campus in LaVilla. The site owned by Vestcor in yellow would come later. — The University of Florida says it has closed on all six of these properties for its graduate campus in LaVilla.

Dudas confirmed Dec. 19 that the closings included the former Interline Brands Inc. building at 801 W. Bay St., which was the subject of a swap between the city and the building’s owner, the Gateway Jax development partnership, for city-owned property in the former Jacksonville Landing on the Downtown Northbank.

As of 6 p.m. Dec. 19, the deeds had not been recorded with the Duval County Clerk of Court.

UF says it has amassed $245 million in state funding and private donations for the graduate campus.

A satellite image of the University of Florida graduate campus site Downtown in LaVilla. Multiple buildings are shown in what is now the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center parking lot. The large convention center building is not shown in the renderings.

The university says its offerings will include a program that merges artificial intelligence with the medical field; science in management; engineering; computer science; and an MBA tailored toward working professionals.

UF plans to adapt the Jacksonville Terminal train station to modern uses, keeping its exterior as-is while renovating the interior for such potential uses as retail and restaurants.

The Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center would be demolished to make way for new construction.

The university’s timeline calls for the developer to be chosen in March 2026 after a series of workshops and interviews.

UF said in a news release that the developer would build “more than 200,000 square feet of high-tech, cutting-edge research, academic, event, retail and administrative office spaces.”

“The campus will launch with professional master’s programs in business, engineering, law, medicine and architecture,” Dudas said in September.

“It will also expand UF’s research enterprise, beginning with the Florida Semiconductor Institute’s Advanced Technology Center and potential future clusters in artificial intelligence, health sciences and robotics.”