The three-story building is scheduled to open in mid-2015
BY JACOB COONFARE
NNB Student Reporter
ST. PETERSBURG – A new opportunity for residents of Midtown and nearby neighborhoods is rising on the corner of 22nd Street and 13th Avenue S.
When in opens in mid-2015, the three-story building for St. Petersburg College will quadruple the college’s space in Midtown and enable it to expand its offerings for students.
The $14 million, 45,000-square-foot building will have classrooms, labs, rooms for counseling and financial aid, a library and community space.
It will be named after the late Douglas L. Jamerson Jr., who grew up in Midtown and served as a state legislator, state education commissioner and state secretary of labor. He died in 2001.
St. Petersburg College has had quarters in Midtown since 2003. But its 10,000-square-foot building at 1048 22nd St. S, two blocks north of the new facility, has just a handful of classrooms. In March, that building was renamed to honor Cecil B. Keene Sr., a longtime Pinellas County school administrator and former member of the St. Petersburg College Board of Trustees who died in 2008.
Kevin Gordon, provost of the Midtown and downtown campuses of the college, called Jamerson and Keene community icons.
“Each made significant contributions to education, St. Petersburg College and the community,” he said in a college news release in December 2013. “This is the perfect way to continue their legacy and uphold the vision they held for Midtown.”
During the groundbreaking for the new Midtown Center in March, Mayor Rick Kriseman commented on his excitement.
“You have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re at,” he said. “Here we are now – we’re going to have a place of learning. We’re going to have people who can go to college right here on 22nd Street, on the Deuces.”
The expansion of the Midtown campus could help business ventures in the area, said Nikki Gaskin-Capehart, the city’s director of urban affairs.
“We have absolute excitement and energy going into the campus,” she said. “I would love to see Midtown become a ‘college hub’ and grow business around the area.”
Workforce training will a part of the expanded campus.
Small-business liaison Jessica Eilerman
Jessica Eilerman, the city’s small-business liaison, said that the college will help fledgling small businesses and get people exposure to the workforce.
“I think the impact will be great,” Eilerman said. “When you have an institution like SPC in the area, it makes a huge impact.”
LumaStream Inc., a company that makes low-voltage, highly efficient lighting systems, recently moved its manufacturing operation from Canada to a building at 2201 First Ave. S. in the Midtown area. LumaStream will supply the space and the college will supply the teachers to train workers for the company.
In an announcement in May, the company said it plans to increase its workforce in the St. Petersburg area from 25 to 200 in five years.
“They’ve already hired three or four folks from the program,” Eilerman said.
The college is one of 11 state schools in a consortium that provides short-term, advanced manufacturing training to high school and college students, returning veterans and the unemployed. It is financed by a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.
“A college in an urban area is exciting,” Gaskin-Capehart said. “There are so many opportunities with a campus in Midtown.”
Information from St. Petersburg College News and the Tampa Bay Times was used in this report.
For more information
Additional details about the Midtown campus of St. Petersburg College and its expansion are available on the college’s news blog.
Click here for additional details about LumaStream.