“The mixed-use student housing redevelopment project will contain approximately 1,300 beds aimed to meet the demands of UCF’s growing enrollment, and will feature state of the art amenities including a community center, restaurants and shops, a resort-style pool and parking garage,” said Gina Cowart, a vice president and spokesperson with American Campus Communities, the company building the project.

“The new development has received enthusiastic support from the local neighborhood and government as they are excited to have this new addition to the community,” Cowart told KnightNews.com

But while the new facility will be fancier and much more modern, not everyone is happy about the changes coming to The Plaza, across from UCF. Several popular college bars, like Knight Library, FUBAR and Underground Bluz, will be bulldozed to make way for the fancy new facility.

And some businesses, like Anmol Indian Cuisine and the Underground Bluz bar, were told they must close their doors by the end of this month, according to Bryan Eastman, Deputy Campaign Manager for the the Shayan Elahi for Florida House campaign.

The Elahi campaign held a press conference outside Underground Bluz Thursday, and alleged certain businesses, like Underground Bluz, were only given a few weeks of notice to move. “Anmol moved out last week as a result,” Eastman told KnightNews.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGtkCV1zSNk

“We have been accommodating and are working with the current retail tenants regarding the plans to vacate the shopping center for demolition, which should be underway by the end of 2012,” Cowart told KnightNews.com. “We have communicated all timelines well in advance of what is required by law so current tenants have ample time to find alternate locations or plans.”

Cowart also reiterated that the new facility will also have retail space for tenants — which students will also be able to enjoy. And there’s already interest.

“We are currently in the process of accepting and reviewing tenant applications for the retail space,” Cowart told KnightNews.com.

But before the new facility can open, there will be that inevitable period where The Plaza that so many students spent some of the best times of their lives will be filled with construction workers instead of college students.

While the demolition is expected the begin by the end of this year, Cowart said construction completion is targeted for fall 2014.

But while the future of The Station seems more certain than the classic bars facing demolition in The Plaza, it will have to compete — at least initially — with students who may want to hang on to what little time they have left living it up at the college bars that have become such a big part of UCF history.

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It’s still not clear whether Knight Library, FUBAR, Lazy Moon and other popular shops at The Plaza will reopen, or close their doors for good.

Check back to KnightNews.com for special coverage of these historic changes coming to the UCF area, and for updates on what the businesses will do.

See more pictures of the new plaza on the next page, below:

Day view of The New Plaza

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Last Monday, the Student Union’s Pegasus Ballroom was reserved for an annual event funded by SGA called The Passing of the Gavel.

Every year SGA holds this event, essentially in its own honor, mainly to praise the current student body president’s administration and to formally hand off it’s powers to the newly elected representatives. Speeches were given and lavish awards and plaques were handed out.

The event planners went all out this year, providing an extravagant four-course meal complete with appetizers, spring salad, main course and cheesecake for dessert. Also, professional DJs and photographers were hired. In fact, guests enjoyed having their portraits taken on the red carpet in the hallway.

According to an SGA senator, the party was accountable for an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 of student dollars. This may be troubling to some, especially when tuition costs are on the rise here at UCF.

However, SGA senators don’t seem to think there is much of a problem with the spending, and enjoyed the ceremony. The same senator from above stated, “I make sure I get the most out of our budget. Sure, I’d like to see the money spent elsewhere, but the money spent on this party is really only a small fraction of SGA’s funding.”

Is this traditional UCF event too expensive for its purposes? You decide, and check back to Knightnews.com for updates on SGA spending.

According to WFTS ABC in Tampa, an I-Team investigation has uncovered “some textbooks sold at USF are full of errors.”

The prime offender was “The Joy of Statistics,” and a USF junior told the station it cost him about $180.

Watch the investigative report below:
Have you ever noticed an errors in a textbook at UCF? KnightNews.com wants to know! Email us at news@knightnews.com if you have, or text our tipline at 407-5-tip-ucf.

Although it appears the joint scheduling was a coincidence, supporters of UCF President John C. Hitt were walking up to his 20th anniversary party inside the Student Union while student protesters demonstrated outside that same building hosting Hitt’s afternoon reception.

Inside the Student Union, those attending Hitt’s reception had the opportunity to enjoy refreshments and be able to “create handwritten notes for the president and record a short congratulatory video,” according to the event’s website.

Outside the Student Union, students fed up with tuition hikes and debt had the chance to write their debt on the “Wall of Student Debt” and “share personal stories about their difficulties with student debt,” according to a press release sent by the Student Labor Action Project. The group also will invite people to discuss the looming tuition hikes UCF, the Board of Governors and the Florida Legislature have planned, the release states.

Doors opened for Hitt’s anniversary party event inside the Union at 1:30 p.m. while the protests were scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Both events were open to the public and students.

KnightNews.com sent a crew to the Union and found the two sides coexisted peacefully.

As for tuition costs, UCF told KnightNews.com that tuition rates have been increasing to “partially offset more than $100 million in state budget cuts that we have sustained since 2007.” Still, UCF has been ranked as one of the nation’s best-value universities and most affordable. Florida universities, on average, rank 45th in the country for the cost of tuition and fees — one of the cheapest.

KnightNews.com checked and found out Florida also ranks 45th in the country for unemployment rates — one of the worst in the country. Florida also ranks 39th for the lowest median annual income, according to a recent average.

Still, lawmakers and many university leaders across the state are pushing to hike Florida’s tuition to the national average of $8,244. Right now Florida’s average tuition costs $5,626.

Gov. Rick Scott, however, has said he doesn’t want any more tuition hikes for Florida right now.

KnightNews.com checked with the Florida state licensing office, which confirms Sage Leaves has its “application in progress” at the address of 3900 N. Alafaya Trail in Orlando.

KnightNews.com will work to get more information on what students can expect from this apparent El Corral replacement, and then ask students how it measures up.

The City of Orlando approved extending drinking hours until 3 a.m. Feb. 24-26 to give the celebrities and VIP’s an extra hour to party. And now, there’s a push to make the extra time to drink permanent.

“You start think thinking of cities like L.A, New York and Miami which is just a few hundred miles away. Their nightlife gets going again at 12 – 1 o’clock, so it’s hard when you are going to shut it down at 2 o’clock,” a downtown nightlife representative told News 13.

Even though downtown Orlando bars and clubs can serve drinks until 3 a.m. this weekend, the UCF bars right next to campus can’t. That’s because the change only impacts bars in the Orlando city limits. UCF and the bars near it are located in unincorporated Orange County.

KnightNews.com will work to see if the City of Orlando will consider making the 3 a.m. alcohol cut-off extension permanent.

That’s according to a USF analysis of the budget cut, the Tampa Bay Times reports. The analysis shows UCF is the target of the second-deepest cuts in the State University System — a whopping 35 percent, or reduction of $76.9 million. See the chart of the USF analysis published in the Times below:

Right now, the proposal is just that — and nothing is set in stone. However, it’s not clear if that is good or bad for UCF’s budget. USF has been blasting the Senate’s proposed budget, and it seems to be making some headway with Sen. J.D. Alexander, who proposed the budget. USF says the nearly 60 percent slashing slated for the Bulls is unfair, when compared to other institutions.

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“Well, we can talk about that,” Alexander told the Times. “If we need to adjust by a few million dollars to get it fairer, then we can reallocate to the other institutions.”

Whether that means it would be UCF — or another state institution — to take on more of the cuts to ease off USF’s is unclear. One issue that is becoming a reason lawmakers say universities need cuts is the amount of reserves available. That’s a reason why lawmakers told the Times USF was targeted for more cuts than others.

However, the Times reports UCF actually has more reserves on hand than USF. UCF has $126 million in reserves, compared to USF’s $112 million and FSU’s $135 million, the paper reported, based on Board of Governors documents.

KnightNews.com will continue to monitor the Florida’s higher education budget crisis, and let you know if UCF is targeted for any deeper cuts.

UCF just agreed to spend $15 million on land next to its medical school, where UCF could build its own hospital. The land buy itself was controversial, because it appraised for less than what UCF agreed to pay in this down market, and prominent university trustee Harris Rosen criticized the deal as too expensive.

Now, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, two local hospitals that have invested millions in Medical City are not pleased with UCF’s plans to build yet another hospital on the east side of Orlando. Its purpose would be as a teaching hospital, UCF said.

As far as UCF’s partners Florida Hospital and Orlando Health are concerned, the plan was to have UCF med students train at the existing hospital’s facilities, in order to avoid duplicate costs.

“We had a clear vision when we put the partnership together,” Florida Hospital President Lars Houmann told the Sentinel. “That vision is changing. … The university has been very honest with us by telling us: That original vision does not appear to be workable.”

The dean of the college of medicine, UCF VP Deborah German, originally told the Sentinel she wasn’t even aware of the concerns being raised, and that she wants to keep having students using the partners’ facilities as well as the new UCF hospital.

“The point is students need to have the experience of all the varieties of medical environments,” German told the Sentinel. “Our students need to have every experience. They need a breadth of experiences. We would still need them to do what they do today.”

When the medical school is fully built, it will serve almost 500 students, German told the paper.

KnightNews.com was at the at the Lanco & Harris paint warehouse in Orlando where the rally took place. Check out our video and a few photos from the event.

Kmart: Open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thanksgiving Day

Toys “R” Us opens at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving day

Walmart opens at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving day

Best Buy, Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s, Florida Mall: Open at the stroke of midnight — several hours earlier than the past on Black Friday.

You can see some of the fliers and black friday ads here.

If shopping turns crazy during the Black Friday rush, email us tips or pics to news@knightnews.com. You can also text our tipline at 407-5-tip-ucf.