{"id":324922,"date":"2026-06-30T18:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/324922\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T18:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T18:04:16","slug":"tampa-leaders-advance-70m-plan-to-transform-mosi-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/324922\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa leaders advance $70M plan to transform MOSI campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted June 17 to move forward with negotiations on a proposed $70 million contract to build an indoor tournament field house on the Museum of Science & Industry campus in northeast Tampa.<\/p>\n

MOSI is adjacent to the University of South Florida.<\/p>\n

The 7-0 vote authorizes the Tampa Sports Authority to negotiate a final agreement with Suffolk Construction before the project returns to commissioners for final approval. If built, the 178,000-square-foot field house would become the centerpiece of a larger redevelopment planned for the county-owned property surrounding MOSI, which officials envision as an entertainment and tourism district.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Ken Hagan described the vote as another milestone in a vision that has been years in the making.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s fieldhouse agenda item<\/a> is the catalyst that will accelerate the $2 billion MOSI redevelopment project,\u201d Hagan said before the vote. \u201cI think everyone associated with this project agrees this transformative project, along with USF golf course redevelopment and new stadium, will completely redefine the USF campus and surrounding area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for the site extend well beyond the indoor sports venue. County leaders have discussed future additions including a hotel, restaurants, entertainment uses and other attractions designed to complement the museum while capitalizing on nearby investments at USF.<\/p>\n

While commissioners focused largely on construction, tourism and economic development, MOSI President and CEO John Smith said one misconception has continued to surface since the project gained attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cMOSI\u2019s not getting $70 million, and MOSI\u2019s not running a sports facility,\u201d Smith told the Catalyst.<\/p>\n

Instead, Smith said the project is part of Hillsborough County\u2019s broader redevelopment of property it already owns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe buildings and land here on campus are owned by Hillsborough County,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHillsborough County is now working on redevelopment of that entire property, with MOSI as kind of the core of the campus moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed field house would be built adjacent to the museum through what county officials now refer to as \u201cThe Hub,\u201d a renovated portion of MOSI\u2019s former main entrance. County documents<\/a> also call for approximately 46,000 square feet of repairs and renovations to the adjoining MOSI West building, including improvements to public spaces supporting the new facility.<\/p>\n

Smith said the project\u2019s greatest value isn\u2019t the building itself, but the people it could bring to the campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been the attraction on an island for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cSo now, MOSI not being on an island \u2026 will be a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He believes the planned sports venue aligns naturally with MOSI\u2019s audience. \u201cI think what\u2019s really nice about this is the overlap between the demographic audiences of who we serve and who this new facility will serve,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Rather than drawing visitors away from the museum, Smith said families traveling to Tampa for youth sports tournaments could become museum visitors as well, particularly as other amenities, including a proposed hotel, are developed nearby.<\/p>\n

For now, however, Smith said the project remains several steps from construction.<\/p>\n

The June 17 vote authorized negotiations with Suffolk Construction but did not give final approval to build the facility. Smith said his immediate concern is navigating what could be a lengthy construction period while keeping the museum operating.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern obviously is \u2026 the two years while it\u2019s getting built,\u201d he said, citing potential disruptions including parking, traffic flow, noise and construction impacts.<\/p>\n

Smith said one message has become increasingly important as the project has gained attention: MOSI isn\u2019t being pushed aside.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going anywhere. We\u2019re not going out of business. We\u2019re not changing our focus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted June 17 to move forward with negotiations on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-324922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}