TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Florida A&M University’s Benjamin Banneker buildings are being demolished as the university seeks to transform its main campus, per FAMU’s 2020-2030 Campus Master Plan Update.
The Benjamin Banneker Complex demolition is funded at $6.5 million for the 2023-2024 fiscal year and is priority number four of five projects that are eligible for funding by Public Educational Capital Outlay (PECO) and Capital Improvement Trust Fund (CITF).
The Benjamin Banneker buildings, constructed in 1966, consist of four buildings: A, B, C, and D, according to a map of FAMU’s campus. Building A of the complex is currently listed as the location for the College of Science and Technology department, per FAMU’s website.
“The main campus of FAMU is undergoing a transformation through the demolition of academic and housing facilities that have exceeded their lifecycle and are not eligible for renovation. This has allowed FAMU to examine infill opportunities across campus and establish a vision for the future development pattern that remains consistent with the framework of the prior campus master plan,” according to the 2020-2030 Master Plan Update.
The schedule for the demolition of the buildings is unclear.
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FAMU’s 2020-2030 Master Plan is the latest in a series of strategic updates mandated by Florida law. The Board of Trustees approved the original 2010-2020 Master Plan in December 2002, then updated it to the 2015-2025 plan in November 2012. The current plan, finalized in January 2023, follows this same ten-year cycle and will shape campus development over the next decade.
The plan addresses future land use, housing, recreation and open space, general infrastructure, transportation and capital improvements.
According to the 2020-2030 Master Plan Update, this demolition is part of their initiative to address FAMU’s aging facilities.
“As a result, many of the structures which support the core purpose of the University are extremely dated; nearly half of which are more than fifty (50) years old,” per the FAMU master plan.
This is a photo of the Benjamin Banneker Technical Center building at FAMU taken on October 11, 1984.(State Archives of Florida/Thomas)
The buildings were named after Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) who was a mathematician, statistician, astronomer, surveyor, and farmer, per a blog by the U.S. National Archives.
The Master Plan also specifies that the demolition is done for buildings “where it is cost prohibitive to renovate or re-use and does not impact the historical integrity of the institution.”
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