Over the past couple months, the University of Central Florida has been moving forward with the planning of its new downtown campus.
A lot of the inspiration for the UCF downtown campus is coming from Arizona State University, the nation’s largest school based on enrollment.
ASU’s downtown campus opened about 10 years ago, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Nearly 12,000 students attend classes on that campus.
ASU uses a light rail to transport students from its main campus to its downtown campus. UCF officials are planning to uses busses to shuttle students back and forth along the 13 mile trip.
UCF associate vice president Fred Kittinger has visited the ASU downtown campus three times since 2014 and said, “The first thing I noticed was the energy and vibrancy,” according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The biggest difference between the two campuses would be cost.
ASU spent nearly $223 million on their campus while UCF is only planning to spend $60 million to open a building that would open in the Fall of 2019.
The downtown UCF campus would be built west of Interstate 4 where the old Magic arena was located.
UCF would also be moving certain academic programs completely downtown to allow students to connect with professionals more and have a better chance of getting internships.
ASU officials say crime at their downtown campus has been minimal. From September 2015 – September 2016, ASU’s downtown campus only had 84 calls for service, none of which were related to violent crime.
