University of St. Augustine to build campus at former site of Record (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — The University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences recently announced its plans to build a new campus at One News Place, the former site of the St. Augustine Record newspaper (pictured above).
Located less than two miles west of USAHS’ current location at 1 University Blvd. — near Flagler Hospital — the planned 122,000-square-foot campus will include an expansive student lounge, study spaces with student learning support technology, faculty and staff offices, workspaces, conference rooms and student amenities.
USAHS is a private, accredited, graduate-level university committed to health and rehabilitative sciences. The school has a campus in California and Miami as well as two in Texas.
To develop the new facilities, USAHS transferred property it previously acquired to ESJ Capital Partners. The transfer enables ESJ Capital Partners to initiate the construction phase of the new USAHS campus.
“At USAHS, we pride ourselves on innovating and responding to the ever-changing needs of today’s healthcare practitioners,” said Vivian A. Sanchez, USAHS chancellor and CEO, in a release. “With this expansion, we can continue to fill practitioner gaps and address the diverse needs of hospitals and health care facilities in St. Augustine and in the other communities we serve in all 50 states.”
Built specifically for health sciences education, facilities will include simulation labs. It will also have the Center for Innovative Clinical Practice, featuring 14 beds in a hospital setting, two complex hospital rooms, six assessment rooms to practice doctor office scenarios, an activities of daily living lab that simulates a home environment, and cadaver and Anatomage anatomy labs to facilitate learning of anatomy.
In addition, observation rooms will allow for real-time observation and review of student scenarios.
According to an email from Stephanie Furlough-Morris, CFO and senior vice president of campus operations, the school is moving its entire campus to the new location.
“We were approaching the end of our lease and found this as an opportunity to continue growing and innovating,” Furlough-Morris said. “The new location is a larger property and will allow us to expand our health science education facilities.”
The new location is also farther inland and provides more safety from flooding, Furlough-Morris added.
The St. Augustine campus has approximately 1,000 students, and the school expects to expand enrollment with this new campus. There are also more than 230 full-time and part-time faculty and staff at the St. Augustine campus.
“This project is a $74 million investment in the future of the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences and the advancement of our mission to prepare exceptional health sciences practitioners,” Furlough-Morris said.
The groundbreaking for the project is expected to occur in June.
Founded in 1979 by Dr. Stanley Paris, USAHS moved to St. Augustine in 1991.
In February 2019, the university was acquired by University of St. Augustine Acquisition Corp., which is affiliated with Altas Partners, an investment firm.
The building at One News Place — at the busy corner of State Road 312 and State Road 207 — was developed by the Morris Communications Co. and opened for The Record in 2001. It was sold to 1 News Place LLC, which is associated with the university, in 2020 for $7.535 million.
Photo courtesy of CommercialCafe