New entrance signs and frat houses

[yippee]

my friend told me that the medical school will not be on campus. he was speaking to someone about it and he was informed about it but i dont know who he spoke to, or how reliable that person is. He mentioned to me where the person said it would be built. I have to ask him again and I will let yall know. some place down 107th and maybe flagler. Some where there are trailers around there??.. Ill find out..

[kevinkagy]

The Medical School will DEFINITELY be on-campus. The Florida Dep't of Health is moving its headquarters to FIU plus the entire Med. School complex was recently updated on our master plan. It will be on the corner of 107th/8th St. Here's the master plan:

facilities.fiu.edu/images/pdf/master/DRAFT_UP_2005-2015.pdf

Also, (I wasn't here when they built the really elaborate arched entrances on 107th and 8th St), but were there plans to continue that concept to 117th, other 8th St, and the UP Apartments entrances? Because, if you drive from the UP Apartments to the 107th entrance, there is fencing, but it's chain-linked and it looks pretty run-down. I think, the same theme of the current entrances should be continued throughout the other entrances as well as in a new wall/fence.

On the topic of the banners, the banners they have around campus now would be good down 8th and 107th. Or even a simple "FIU" logo with the emblem. They should work on getting that up again.

[fiurulez]

yippee said:

my friend told me that the medical school will not be on campus. he was speaking to someone about it and he was informed about it but i dont know who he spoke to, or how reliable that person is. He mentioned to me where the person said it would be built. I have to ask him again and I will let yall know. some place down 107th and maybe flagler. Some where there are trailers around there??.. Ill find out..

There was a trailer park on 102nd and Flagler. They are no longer there. A relative told me about this a couple of months ago. He told me that site will have something to do with FIU, UM and medicine. It will be a hospital.

[yippee]

fiurulez said:

yippee said:

my friend told me that the medical school will not be on campus. he was speaking to someone about it and he was informed about it but i dont know who he spoke to, or how reliable that person is. He mentioned to me where the person said it would be built. I have to ask him again and I will let yall know. some place down 107th and maybe flagler. Some where there are trailers around there??.. Ill find out..

There was a trailer park on 102nd and Flagler. They are no longer there. A relative told me about this a couple of months ago. He told me that site will have something to do with FIU, UM and medicine. It will be a hospital.

I knew it was something.. thanks!!!

[kevinkagy]

Found this on the Senate's website from Jan. 8th, 2008:

"(a) Focus Groups for Possible “Mixed Use Retail Center on U.P.”: The Senate has been asked for twenty-five faculty volunteers to attend either of two focus group meetings and provide input on a possible new building project—a “mixed-use center” which might be constructed in conjunction with the development of new student housing on the University Park Campus. The center could include retail shops, parking, and graduate student/faculty housing (probably apartment style housing for one-year lease periods for individuals new to the area). The meetings are January 14 from 5:00-6:00 and January 15 from 1:00-2:00. If interested call the Senate Office at 7-2141 and indicate which group meeting you can attend. "

Did anyone go or know anything more information on the FIU Village?

www.fiu.edu/~fsenate/steering/2007-2008/minutes/1.8.08.doc.

[2006PA]

Back in the spring 2006, while I was a peer advisor, the person in charge of updating the "future expansion" map for FIU came to talk to all peer advisors to tell them about future construction that was planned to happen in a 5 year time frame. He told us about the new football stadium (which is currently being constructed), about the med school being constructed on the corner of 107th and 8th street, as well as some expansion that will happen in the sweet water area. According to him ( I forgot his name), he said that the area between flagler, 8 street, 107th ave, and 112 (not 100% sure if its 112 ave), would be used to develope a marketplace with offices, stores, dorms, and other facilities. I remember him saying something along the lines of it being a little like a downtown area for FIU. He also said that the metro rail will expand its way all the way over here to FIU in order to facilitate transportation problems. As for the metro rail's main stop, he said that it would be located where the garbage dump is currently located (on 117th ave and about 16th street). Supposedly there will be a parking garage along with the main terminal. That's all I know about the "village"..

[Steve]

The East-West Metrorail line is WAAAAAAAAY down the line. The initial station location was to be where the dump is currently located, however there have been some alignment changes. At present time, Metrorail is supposed to come down 8th street from the east and the station will be located somewhere along the north side of the campus. The project has to head back to the Environmental Inpact Statement phase though because of the time frame since the last meetings and becuase the alignment has changed. The project (dubbed The Orange Line Phase III) will not be constructed until phases I (the Earlington Heights-MIC Connector) and II (The North Corridor) are completed. Phase I is supposed to begin construction at the end of this year or early 2009. Phase II was supposed to begin construction at roughly the same time, however because the Transit Department provided unrealistic ticket projections to the federal government (they were proposing a roughly 200% increase in fares over 3 years when they haven't increased overall ridership fares by more than 10% in the past 18 years....) the North Corridor (phase II) was downgraded and will not recieve federal funding. The county is working with the fed to resolve this issue though and hopefully we will see the project begin construction late 2009 or early 2010. Construction of the East-West corridor (Phase III) is projected to begin sometime around 2011 with revinue service beginning sometime around 2015-2016.

The academic villiage concept for Sweethingyer has been discussed here before. The project is actually an evolution of a study commissioned jointly by FIU and the City of Sweethingyer to create a series of transit corridors connecting the University Park Campus with the Engineering Campus on 107th and Flagler. As part of the study, the area between Flagler and 8th street and between 112th and 107th was to be redesigned to become more affordable housing and more pedestrian accessible to the proposed transit corridor. Some time last year (or possibly the year before) a new document was made availible outlining a plan to take that area and utilize it as housing and offices for the university. This document, as I understood it, was an evolution of the initial transit corridor plan. If I remember correctly though, there was a Miami Herald article on this study and it was mentioned that it would have to be put to a vote by the residents of Sweethingyer if they wanted to allow FIU to actually start and actual project along those lines. Part of the study was to turn 112th ave into a mainstreet with shops and dorms in a pedestrian freindly environment.

I will try and find these documents sometime tonight... ok got some links!

From 2003
news.fiu.edu/releases/2002/6-25_sweethingyer.htm This is an article on the possibility of transit corridors in Sweethingyer
www.miamidade.gov/mpo/docs/MPO_107av_greenways_200312.pdf This link is to the entire 109 page study on the establishment of transit greenways through sweethingyer
From 2007
metropolitan.fiu.edu/downloads/MetroNews_winter2k7.pdf This was the only article I could find where mention of FIU moving in to create stuff in that area.

[FIJIGabe]

returning to the issue of fraternity houses, i can tell you a couple of things, because i was president when the FIJI House was finished.

first off, the house was not entirely donated by Kirk Landon. he made a sizeable donation, but there is still a mortgage to be paid off. the total cost of the house was a little over $2million, which is more than all the other fraternities planned on spending. the problem is that construction costs have skyrocketted since we built our house, and that has held up much of funding. the FIJI House was always planned to be the largest house on campus (originally, even larger than Maidique, until he got wind of it, and had his garage added on). The other houses will be smaller, but because of the increase in costs, won't be cheaper.

additionally, because, at the time, we were relatively small, we were "moldable" by the local grads. however, some of the larger fraternities have done things in the past to alienate their local graduates, which has reduced their cash income.

finally, designing a multi-million dollar house isn't cheap. original designs for the FIJI House, as well as other houses, were much larger and grandiose. we had to eliminate a good percentage of the house to make budget, and other fraternities have had to do the same (some have had to make several revisions to their houses, others have had to scrap plans entirely). several of the fraternities wanted to ask the University to build them the houses, and they would pay rent. However, that idea was quickly abandoned, and will never fly.

regarding the leases of property, it runs like this: the fraternities pay the university $1/year, for 99 years. that's the lease. however, if a house hasn't been built, my understanding is that the property can be reassigned to another fraternity on a 10-year basis. Now, several fraternities have had "ground breaking" ceremonies on their plot of swamp (that's really what they are), but until there's a structure built, the land is still open. considering that the fraternities were originally awarded the land around 1998, that would mean that at some point this year, another fraternity may be awarded a plot of land, if they can prove they have the resources or plans to build a house (maybe PiKapp, don't know).

[Steve]

perhaps the university should set up some sort of a bond agreement with the fraternities to help cover a percentage of construction costs.