Jacksonville has committed $100M to the new campus in the LaVilla district of the city’s urban core.

The transition from vision to action takes hold Wednesday as the University of Florida (UF) opens its Jacksonville graduate campus facility that’s been promoted for years.

UF and Jacksonville city officials will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the downtown campus located at 801 W. Bay St. UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini along with the school’s new President Stuart Bell will be on hand with Jacksonville May Donna Deegan to formally designate the opening of the urban campus which is an offshoot of the institution anchored in Gainesville.

The inner-city graduate facility is on 20 acres of land in the urban core of Jacksonville in the LaVilla area that the city granted to the university. It’s a piece of a plan by UF to reach deeper into the Northeast Florida region that already has three established universities and Florida State College at Jacksonville that has multiple campuses in the city, including a downtown location that’s only a few blocks from the UF graduate site.

UF officials have said the new campus is designed to focus on graduate education, research and workforce development that includes partnerships with the city, state and private-sector partners.

There was $50 million approved by the City Council in 2025 which increased the city’s total investment in the project to about $100 million. With private contributions and state funding, the total cash tally for the UF Jacksonville campus now amounts to $300 million.

City leaders have publicly been all in with the new UF graduate facility that will include degrees and concentrations in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data analytics, engineering management, business, law, architecture and biomedical, health sciences. The site will also house elements of the Florida Semiconductor Institute.

Deegan has totally thrown her support behind the project.

“Jacksonville is committed to being on the forefront of talent development,” Deegan said. “As our economy grows and embraces new technology, the need for a skilled workforce is more important than ever. Our partnership with UF sends a clear signal that Jacksonville is at the forefront of innovation.”

UF first announced the plans for the project in 2023. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. Wednesday, an open house tour will be available.