TU: FSCJ looks to offer student housing, support downtown revitalization in 'win-win' outcome

Times-Union

http://jacksonville.com/news/schools/2015-07-14/story/fscj-looks-offer-student-housing-support-downtown-revitalization-win

College hopes to open 50 to 75 downtown dorms for fall 2016

By Tessa Duvall

A “win-win” situation is a phrase frequently being used to describe Florida State College at Jacksonville’s early plans for further downtown expansion.

The college is eyeing two buildings for a proposal to develop student housing, a cafe and Center for Civic Engagement.

Downtown Jacksonville gains lively, young residents and fills empty buildings, while the school is able to provide a more traditional residential college experience for students who want that option.

FSCJ President Cynthia Bioteau said the school prides itself on being not just a community college, but the community’s college.

“Part of what I believe our community needs, as we look at the downtown revitalization of the city core of Jacksonville, is we need live bodies, energetic bodies, and students are the best of what I could imagine living downtown, 24-hour-a-day, seven days a week and bring that kind of energy to the city core,” she said.

The first of the two properties is the abandoned 26,288-square-foot, five-story property at 218 W. Church St. located four blocks from FSCJ’s Downtown Campus. Bioteau said it is her goal to have the 50 to 75 housing units available to students in time for fall 2016 classes, which she called an optimistic timeline.

The plan would be the first time FSCJ has offered student housing. The school enrolled 32,000 students last fall and expects that to grow by 16 percent with this fall’s classes.

Bioteau said demand for student housing already exists among students, especially those younger students right out of high school and international students. She expects the college will have no problem filling as many as 75 units, and there could be more housing in the future.

The college is not currently planning housing for any of its other four Jacksonville campuses, Bioteau said. FSCJ is, however, pursuing downtown housing because now is the right time to contribute to the economic development of the city, she said.

“That’s why downtown is the key spot,” she said. “We’re not doing this to get into the housing business; we’re doing this to complement the city’s needs and the college’s needs in a way that, I think, benefits both.”

OPTIONS
Bioteau pointed to Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah as a school that successfully bought downtown buildings and put student housing among businesses and restaurants.

The housing proposal, including buying the building and renovations, will cost an estimated $4.8 million, with FSCJ seeking $2 million in Downtown Investment Authority support, $75,000 from the city’s retail reinvestment fund and possibly Historical Preservation Trust grants, according to the school’s proposal.

Bioteau said the college continues to explore options, but a third party may buy the building, renovate it and lease it back to the college.

FSCJ is also looking at a 18,789-square-foot building at 502 N. Hogan St., which houses Farah’s Uptown Deli while the rest of the building is unused. The building is listed at $550,000.

The college would operate a cafe open to the public to highlight its culinary arts program, as well as its new Center for Civic Engagement.

Bioteau said part of a community college’s mission should to help students be good community citizens, and the center will help them apply what they learn about engagement through structured community service.

The school’s direction and engagement in the city show it’s walking its talk, Bioteau said.

“All of those arrows point toward a wonderful future,” she said. “The future of FSCJ is structured around the success of our students, the completion of our students with their goal, and the very, very constructive integration into the community, both in their work and in their being a citizen of the community.”

Though the plans for the project are not yet finalized, community organizations are excited about the potential.

Tony Allegretti, executive director at the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, said beefing up downtown’s residential base is important in moving redevelopment forward. “Any time there’s a cluster of young people that converge in downtown, be it for a night out or especially if they live there, downtown gets a tremendous amount out of that,” he said.

Twenty-five percent of downtown office space was vacant in the first quarter of the year, according to commercial broker Cushman and Wakefield.

Allegretti said adding occupants and density downtown is “like filling in a missing tooth.” He also pointed to the old Haydon Burns Library, now home to the new Jessie Ball duPont Center, as another project that enhanced downtown.

When combined with a livelier Hemming Park, the frequent crowds the Florida Theatre draws and the increased availability for a quality dinner at downtown restaurants, Allegretti said signs show the interest in downtown is finally there. Now, he said, the college will also benefit from that success.

“FSCJ is, in my opinion, is an under-appreciated influencer,” he said. “They’re doing a bunch of things, but they’re not really going out and beating their chest about it. They’re doing a great job helping kids get their path, but also representing what Jacksonville is.”

ONE LITTLE THING
Katherine Hardwick, director of marketing for Downtown Vision Inc., said nationwide studies show millennials are moving back to cities’ urban cores and want an active and walkable lifestyle.

“They’re basically fearless is terms of exploring downtown, patronizing the nightlife and restaurants,” Hardwick said.

It makes a positive impact in the city when vacant buildings are filled and the streetscape is flush with businesses, like Sweet Pete’s and Super Food and Brew, she said.

“Any time a business makes the decision to move downtown or open its doors downtown,” Hardwick said, “it’s one of a thousand little things that adds up to a great product.”

Tessa Duvall: (904) 359-4697