FIU Approves P3 for Hotel, Conference Center on Main Campus

MIAMI—The Florida International University Board of Governors has given a green light to a public-private partnership that will develop a new hotel, an alumni center and a new conference center on its main campus here on Tamiami Trail.

The FIU Board approved a P3 last week with by Concord Benchmark LLC. The $66-million project will include a 150-room hotel, a 13,700-square-foot alumni center and approximately 33,000 square feet of meeting space. Concord Benchmark consists of Virginia-based Concord Eastridge and Benchmark Management Co., according to a published report in the Miami Herald.

Rabun Architects, Inc. will design the project while Moss & Associates, LLC will develop the new buildings that will be located on the northwest corner of the campus near recreation fields and the Florida Turnpike.

FIU reports that South Florida’s first university-affiliated conference center and hotel is expected to open by the fall of 2021. In its announcement, the university said the project, which is common in large research universities, is part of a larger vision for development in the area that includes several student housing and mixed-use buildings.

“This project brings together our vision for an alumni center with a privately-funded hotel and conference center that will serve the university, the surrounding business community and will draw added visitors and job creation to our area,” says FIU SVP for finance and administration and CFO Kenneth A. Jessell.

The  alumni center is being funded with private donations as part of the Next Horizon Campaign. The alumni center is designed to connect the university’s 215,000 alumni to mentorship opportunities with FIU students, as well as support them with professional and leadership development. The center will feature a library and lounge area.

“The alumni center will bring the ‘Panther Nation’ together and provide all of us with expanded opportunities for career development and networking,” says Maria D. Garcia, president of the FIU Alumni Association.

The new project will host academic, research, and professional conferences; student campus tours; orientations and family weekends; special events; award ceremonies and guest speaking engagements. The project is also geared at connecting FIU students to hands-on, real world training by providing part-time jobs, internships and work-study opportunities to undergraduate students, as well as full-time jobs to business, hospitality and tourism management, finance and accounting FIU graduates.

The new alumni, conference center and hotel will be built across the street from a seven-acre mixed-use project being developed by Global City Development. The first phase of this complex is under construction.

The development will at full build-out house approximately 2,300 students in two 20-story towers. A third tower will provide housing for faculty and staff, along with several hundred thousand square feet of commercial space focused on incubators, software development and training facilities.

The Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of the State of Florida must approve the project before construction can begin.