Hillsborough College Will Split Across Three Temporary Sites While the Rays Stadium Rises at Dale Mabry
Student services stay at Dale Mabry in a cluster of mobile structures called The Nest, while classes move downtown to a USF medical simulation center and to an office park at MLK and Himes - a split-up the college settled on after first looking for a single temporary campus.
Hillsborough College's Dale Mabry campus is about to become a construction site, and the college now has a plan for where everyone goes. Rather than one temporary campus - the option officials first considered - classes and services will scatter across three sites while a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium and a rebuilt college campus rise on the Dale Mabry grounds.
Under the plan President Ken Atwater laid out at an October 27 campus forum and to the college's trustees at the Brandon campus, student services will run from The Nest, a cluster of mobile structures kept on the Dale Mabry campus. Classes will meet at the University of South Florida's Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation in downtown Tampa and at Tampa Bay Park, an office plaza at MLK Jr. Boulevard and Himes Avenue.
The stakes are large: Dale Mabry is the first and largest of the college's five campuses and serves more than 22,000 students. The move is expected early next year - a draft schedule points to mid-March - with construction expected to wrap up by 2030 and the Rays aiming to play in the new ballpark in the 2029 season. The state has set aside $50 million for the new campus, though final costs could top $200 million. Tampa's City Council approved the stadium community benefits agreement 4-3 on October 29.
