TAMPA, Fla. — Students at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry Campus in Tampa will be spread across three locations starting next spring, under a revised plan college leaders laid out Wednesday as the property is cleared for a Rays ballpark and a rebuilt college campus.
The college first intended to put everything in a single temporary site on campus. Now only student services will stay at The Nest, a cluster of mobile structures on the Dale Mabry property. Five health care programs will move to a University of South Florida medical simulation center in downtown Tampa, and most remaining classes will relocate to Tampa Bay Park, an office complex about 1.5 miles from the campus.
A draft timeline shown to trustees aims for the move in mid-March. Shuttles will run continuously between the three locations to ease parking, though students said they still have not been told the routes or stops.
College President Ken Atwater said the change came after people raised concerns about the first plan, and that putting classes in existing permanent buildings gives students a better place to learn. He acknowledged the shift will be inconvenient but pointed to the payoff of replacing a campus that costs the college close to $10 million a year in deferred maintenance.
Roughly 24 students, faculty and staff members criticized the redevelopment at the District Board of Trustees meeting. Speakers worried about losing the campus community, and one faculty member cited a survey of 900 students in which about 30% said they might switch campuses, transfer or drop out. The board approved the item on its agenda despite the objections.
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