{"id":407422,"date":"2026-09-22T18:16:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T18:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/407422\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T18:16:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T18:16:49","slug":"usf-breaks-ground-on-500-million-uptown-landing-formerly-fletcher-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/407422\/","title":{"rendered":"USF breaks ground on $500 million Uptown Landing, formerly Fletcher District"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>Uptown Landing, a $500 million mixed-use development replacing the university\u2019s former golf course, is expected to be completed by fall 2028, though some students worry about the traffic it will bring to campus. ORACLE PHOTO\/VIOLET VASQUEZ PIMENTEL<\/p>\n

On Sept. 8, USF held a groundbreaking ceremony for \u201cUptown Landing,\u201d the new mixed-use development that will replace the university\u2019s former 138-acre golf course<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project is expected to cost nearly $500 million and will include student housing, restaurants, retail spaces, a hotel, conference center and a major academic research building.<\/p>\n

The development will be north of Fletcher Avenue and east of North 46th Street, which is within walking distance of USF\u2019s new on-campus stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project is expected to open for fall 2028, only a year after the stadium is planned to be completed.<\/p>\n

During the ceremony, USF announced the project\u2019s new name \u2014 it will no longer be called \u201cFletcher District,\u201d according to USF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

USF President Moez Limayem said<\/a> at the groundbreaking event that the name means much more than a neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cUptown is a name this district has earned through decades of research, innovation, jobs and investment,\u201d the president said. \u201cWe\u2019re not creating an identity here. We\u2019re helping write its next chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aryan Vadlamudi, a sophomore majoring in biomedical sciences, said the development is a good thing for the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good idea to expand the campus,\u201d Vadlamudi said. \u201cI feel like they can definitely make more new buildings for campus because a lot of the buildings are older.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: USF\u2019s Fletcher District approved in Board of Governors meeting<\/a><\/p>\n

The first phase is estimated to cost about $270 million to cover the public-private partnership and the other $225 million to go toward the academic research building, according to USF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the public-private partnership, the developer<\/a> is ACE Fletcher and will finance and own the student housing, affiliate housing, hotel and retail components during the term of ground leases.<\/p>\n

The development is designed to be a walkable area connected to campus, and the Bull Runner services are expected to provide additional access.<\/p>\n

Parking will also be included in different parts of the development, but the final parking plan is still being developed.<\/p>\n

During the project, USF is analyzing traffic patterns to reduce impacts on surrounding roads and said construction will create noise, but there are no plans for work during evening hours.<\/p>\n

Some students were worried about the USF Forest Preserve around the development, but USF said the site is west of the preserve and no construction will take place within it.<\/p>\n

Students said they are excited to have more places to eat and spend time around campus, but are concerned about how the construction will impact traffic.<\/p>\n

Vadlamudi said he works for USF\u2019s on-campus ambulance services<\/a>, and is concerned about how traffic could get in the way of taking the ambulance across Fletcher Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be hard to get across Fletcher sometimes, because I know that there\u2019s always going to be a lot of traffic, and I don\u2019t know what the traffic is going to look like for the Uptown Landing on top of all of campus,\u201d Vadlamudi said.<\/p>\n

For the construction period, Vadlamudi said he thinks the inside of campus will not be affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll affect the campus itself, but I know a lot of people live around that area, like with apartments, so maybe it\u2019ll affect them,\u201d Vadlamudi said.<\/p>\n

Even though Vadlamudi said he is excited about the project, he said he does not believe it will be completed by the expected date.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the [time] they push things back, so I\u2019m kind of skeptical of it being done by fall 2028,\u201d Vadlamudi said.<\/p>\n

Related: USF reveals vision for housing, retail on former golf course site<\/a><\/p>\n

Opposite of Vadlamudi, Mikayla Shedrawy, a sophomore international business major, said she believes the development will be completed by fall 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe if circumstances do come up, like weather and hurricanes, it might affect the construction; I feel like they\u2019re pretty accurate with their plans and to stay on track,\u201d Shedrawy said.<\/p>\n

Yet, Shedrawy also said she thinks the development will bring a lot more traffic to campus and its surroundings.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I hope that they improve the parking and just traffic of it all. Like I think they might not be thinking too much about that,\u201d Shedrawy said.<\/p>\n

Despite this concern, she said she is excited about having restaurants, stores and other activities closer to campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really excited to have a very close-by area to go to all the time,\u201d Shedrawy said. \u201cYou know, instead of having to drive 30 minutes to go downtown, it\u2019s like we have like a mini downtown right here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uptown Landing, a $500 million mixed-use development replacing the university\u2019s former golf course, is expected to be completed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-407422","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\/407422","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=407422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}