FIU campus aerial photo

[MiRi]

Hey! I can see Max's house in some of those pictures. lol

[kevinkagy]

I was just reading the June 28th FIU Board of Trustees meeting, and says that they are currently planning 2 new residence halls for the northwest side of campus by the Ziff Building to be COMPLETED for the Fall 2009! Also, it said that funds for the residence halls have already been granted and are in place. Great news! We really need more residence halls, on-campus. So when built, that'll bring our housing capacity to about 4,100!

[FIUGoldenPanther]

What happened and is currently going on regarding this?

University and Sweethingyer collaborate to create college town

For the first time since the school was established, FIU's students and faculty may soon have a college town to call their own in the neighboring community of Sweethingyer.

"The City of Sweethingyer would like to revitalize certain areas which are on its northern boundary directly across from [University Park]," said Jorge Forte, Chief of Staff to Sweethingyer Mayor Manuel Maroño. "It would like to develop this area as an economic engine for the city by attracting businesses that cater to the university population."

FIU's Metropolitan Center, the School of Architecture and the city of Sweethingyer have been collaborating with each other, with the goal of transforming the city into more of a college town, providing services and businesses which cater to students' needs. At the beginning of the Fall 2005 semester, Mayor Manuel Maroño participated in a panel discussion as part of FIU's Faculty Convocation, at which he expressed an interest in having Sweethingyer and FIU find a better way to relate to each other.

"Essentially, we've been neighbors for thirty years but there really hasn't been a very direct connection with Sweethingyer," said Roberto Rovira, assistant professor in the School of Architecture's landscape architecture program. "So the mayor sees the economic advantages of creating an environment such as a college town, because it would bring students and faculty a lot of activity that would be very positive towards them."

During the Fall 2005 semester, Rovira led a studio consisting of eight graduate students, whose task was to brainstorm ideas on how to transform Sweethingyer into a college town and present their ideas and designs to city officials.

"One of the objectives of a studio is having the students get involved and understand the workings of a community, and integrate that with landscape architectural design ideas," Rovira, said. "It was a perfect fit to expose the students to the community process for position making, to have them develop ideas based on thorough analysis of the city and its contexts, and then come with a series of proposals that was then presented to the city of Sweethingyer." Throughout the process, Rovira and his students have been working together with Sweethingyer city officials.

"We were dealing directly with the office of the mayor," Rovira said. "We presented to the mayor, and the Chief Of Staff. Part of our critiques involved Miami-Dade Planning & Zoning. Regarding what services and locales would be available to the FIU community, Forte said, "Based on the input we have received from faculty and students, restaurants and cafes are a priority, as well as specialty shops and boutiques."

Rovira's students' proposals also included redesigning the main thoroughfares such as 107 Ave, 109 Ave and the Flagler corridor, mixed-use developments which offer commercial spaces and cafes on the ground floor with residential units on above floors and pedestrian-friendly streets.

"They would be able to provide the sort of environment that would sustain economic activity, and that students would be drawn to," Rovira said.

Rovira's studio presented their ideas to the city of Sweethingyer at the Jorge Mas Canosa Youth Center, Dec. 8, which was open to the public.

"We basically had all the students' projects presented to the public there, and the reaction was extremely positive," Rovira said. "I'd say it was a very successful presentation, and I think they were impressed by the level of analysis that went into some of the projects."

The implementation of these proposals may not be too far off.

"The process has already started," Forte said. "However, change is a slow moving process. The city has initiated certain steps required in order to change the existing makeup of the city. These steps have to go through a process that involves State approval, public meetings and a lot of careful planning. This process can take two years to complete before any visible changes are made."

However, Rovira added that the students had presented "a complement of ideas, some of which require a long term commitment, but others that are more directly or immediately implemented, and probably there would be a timeline for addressing those first, and then having a long-term plan to complete this overall transformation."

Rovira considers one of the most rewarding aspects of the studio to be the instant feedback from Sweethingyer city officials.

"The students actually got to see the city council making decisions and providing them with direct feedback to their ideas," Rovira said. "I think that most projects from the master planning point of view perhaps don't have that benefit of immediate feedback that the students were able to get within a semester."

Beacon Article

[kevinkagy]

I really hope they pursue this, because it'd be extremely beneficial for FIU and us the students.

[TrueBlue]

fiufan3456 said:

What happened and is currently going on regarding this?

University and Sweethingyer collaborate to create college town

For the first time since the school was established, FIU's students and faculty may soon have a college town to call their own in the neighboring community of Sweethingyer.

"The City of Sweethingyer would like to revitalize certain areas which are on its northern boundary directly across from [University Park]," said Jorge Forte, Chief of Staff to Sweethingyer Mayor Manuel Maroño. "It would like to develop this area as an economic engine for the city by attracting businesses that cater to the university population."

FIU's Metropolitan Center, the School of Architecture and the city of Sweethingyer have been collaborating with each other, with the goal of transforming the city into more of a college town, providing services and businesses which cater to students' needs. At the beginning of the Fall 2005 semester, Mayor Manuel Maroño participated in a panel discussion as part of FIU's Faculty Convocation, at which he expressed an interest in having Sweethingyer and FIU find a better way to relate to each other.

"Essentially, we've been neighbors for thirty years but there really hasn't been a very direct connection with Sweethingyer," said Roberto Rovira, assistant professor in the School of Architecture's landscape architecture program. "So the mayor sees the economic advantages of creating an environment such as a college town, because it would bring students and faculty a lot of activity that would be very positive towards them."

During the Fall 2005 semester, Rovira led a studio consisting of eight graduate students, whose task was to brainstorm ideas on how to transform Sweethingyer into a college town and present their ideas and designs to city officials.

"One of the objectives of a studio is having the students get involved and understand the workings of a community, and integrate that with landscape architectural design ideas," Rovira, said. "It was a perfect fit to expose the students to the community process for position making, to have them develop ideas based on thorough analysis of the city and its contexts, and then come with a series of proposals that was then presented to the city of Sweethingyer." Throughout the process, Rovira and his students have been working together with Sweethingyer city officials.

"We were dealing directly with the office of the mayor," Rovira said. "We presented to the mayor, and the Chief Of Staff. Part of our critiques involved Miami-Dade Planning & Zoning. Regarding what services and locales would be available to the FIU community, Forte said, "Based on the input we have received from faculty and students, restaurants and cafes are a priority, as well as specialty shops and boutiques."

Rovira's students' proposals also included redesigning the main thoroughfares such as 107 Ave, 109 Ave and the Flagler corridor, mixed-use developments which offer commercial spaces and cafes on the ground floor with residential units on above floors and pedestrian-friendly streets.

"They would be able to provide the sort of environment that would sustain economic activity, and that students would be drawn to," Rovira said.

Rovira's studio presented their ideas to the city of Sweethingyer at the Jorge Mas Canosa Youth Center, Dec. 8, which was open to the public.

"We basically had all the students' projects presented to the public there, and the reaction was extremely positive," Rovira said. "I'd say it was a very successful presentation, and I think they were impressed by the level of analysis that went into some of the projects."

The implementation of these proposals may not be too far off.

"The process has already started," Forte said. "However, change is a slow moving process. The city has initiated certain steps required in order to change the existing makeup of the city. These steps have to go through a process that involves State approval, public meetings and a lot of careful planning. This process can take two years to complete before any visible changes are made."

However, Rovira added that the students had presented "a complement of ideas, some of which require a long term commitment, but others that are more directly or immediately implemented, and probably there would be a timeline for addressing those first, and then having a long-term plan to complete this overall transformation."

Rovira considers one of the most rewarding aspects of the studio to be the instant feedback from Sweethingyer city officials.

"The students actually got to see the city council making decisions and providing them with direct feedback to their ideas," Rovira said. "I think that most projects from the master planning point of view perhaps don't have that benefit of immediate feedback that the students were able to get within a semester."

Beacon Article

I went to the first community forum for it, some citizens liked it some didn't I don't know what happened to it after. I know it wasn't an end al discussion so i doubt they called it off, it was just to create a dialogue so i think its just back on the drawing board.

[FIUGoldenPanther]

It would be great to have off campus housing, restaurants, stores and maybe clubs that target FIU students. This would really help campus life.

[fiurulez]

Blame it on Sweethingyer's incompetent elected officials. I'll run for a commissioner spot next election if you guys help me. The only problem is that my name is not Hispanic (even though I am) so I'll lose

[kevinkagy]

I think FIU should try and purchase the apartment buildings to the east of 107th Av, I forget what they're called but it's a good-sized property that I know the school could look into buying for housing. Then, I think they should work purchase the land just to the south of where the current parking is between the stadium and the Wertheim Performing Arts Center, they could build more buildings there too, and finally work with Sweethingyer to get this project going to top it all off. This is all very doable, I just wish they'd get to it!

GO FIU!

[kevinkagy]

I was on-campus yesterday to check the progress on the construction and the Frost Art Museum is almost done and should be finished by September. All of the sidewalks and exterior parts are finished and they were working on the landscaping and interior. At the Graduate Business School Complex, the buildings have been painted and they were working on landscaping and the sidewalks as well. Those 2 buildings are also expected to be finished by September as well. Everything's looking very, very nice!

GO FIU!!

[formerstudent]

Yea, I agree. But what about the parking there at FIU its like the amazing race every morning!!!

[kevinkagy]

There's actually more than enough parking for every student on-campus it's just a lot of the parking is far away such as the parking by the art studios, recreational fields, and International Hurricane Research Center. Everyone just always wants to park in the Blue and Gold garages, even though they are the most convenient, sometimes you need to park a bit further and walk a bit more.

[kevinkagy]

FIU goes "green"

media.www.beaconnewspaper.com/media/storage/paper540/news/2007/07/16/News/University.Joins.green.Initiative-2924000.shtml