- The University of Florida revealed an updated design for the first academic building on its new $287.5 million graduate campus in Jacksonville's LaVilla neighborhood.
- Local and state leaders, donors, and the city of Jacksonville funded the campus with over $300 million and donated nearly 25 acres for its development.
The University of Florida recently revealed an updated rendering of the first academic building on its new graduate campus in Jacksonville.
The release of the updated rendering comes after UF announced in April that it had selected Maryland-based Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate as the preferred developer for the first building on the graduate campus, which will be located in the historic LaVilla neighborhood in downtown Jacksonville.
“We are thrilled to have begun design and planning for the first new building for UF Jacksonville,” UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini said in a statement. “This updated rendering shows the promise of our efforts.”
Hosseini emphasized that the rendering “is a starting point.”
“It will evolve as the developer team and the university work together to refine the vision into what ultimately will be a spectacular facility and the keystone of a world-class campus,” he said in the statement.
Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Edgemoor was chosen to lead the initial $287.5 million phase of construction following a “competitive process that drew strong interest from development teams nationwide,” according to an April UF press release.
Edgemoor’s teammates include a mix of local and national partners such as Clark Construction, Auld & White Constructors, OJB Landscape Architecture, HOK, PQH Group Design, England-Thims Miller, Coastal Connections Group and more, according to the release.
“Edgemoor and their team bring an excellent track record of executing transformative higher education projects on campuses throughout the country,” Hosseini said in the release.
According to the Feb. 23 Board of Trustees meeting agenda, local and state leaders, along with university donors, provided UF with over $300 million to fund the development of a campus in Jacksonville. The city of Jacksonville also donated nearly 25 acres of real property in the LaVilla area to UF for the campus.
A June 2025 UF release said the Jacksonville campus would “offer graduate-level academic programs aligned with the city’s [Jacksonville] workforce needs in fields such as business, health science, engineering, law and architecture.”
According to the UF Jacksonville website, the first set of programs is expected to be launched in existing facilities this fall, with new construction beginning by late 2027.