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PHCC To Build New Campus In Spring Hill

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By TONY HOLT Hernando Today

Published: October 8, 2007

SPRING HILL - A 58-acre site along U.S. 19 will soon be developed and turned into a pristine, seven-building college campus that administrators hope will provide better infrastructure and more advanced resources for students.

The construction also won't interfere with the area's ecological scenery, promises Stanley Giannet, Pasco-Hernando Community College provost.

'It's a very green-type of environment,' he said of the campus that will likely be operational by 2010. 'It will be nestled with the foliage. It will have a very nice, natural feel to it.'
Florida Architects of Orlando has been selected as the design architect for the college's new campus, which according to Giannet, will include an administrative building, science and technology labs, classrooms, a student-service center, a library and a multipurpose community center.

The site will be 99,700 square feet. Most of the property will be used for construction, Giannet said.

The college has a learning center on Mariner Boulevard, but the ever-growing student body has overcrowded it.

The student population at the north campus has grown by 8 percent while the Spring Hill center has seen a 14 percent increase in recent years, according to Giannet.

'The paucity of classroom space gives us the need for a bigger campus,' he said.

Giannet said he thinks building another campus would enable the college to expand its work force development and technology programs.

Giannet called the construction a 'tremendous undertaking' and one of the biggest projects in PHCC's history.

The college opened in Dade City in 1972 and the north campus, at 11415 Ponce de Leon Blvd. in Brooksville, opened the next year.

The groundbreaking for the new Spring Hill campus - which will be along the east side of U.S. 19 between County Line Road and Spring Hill Drive - will take place next summer.

Renovations to the gymnasium will begin soon at the Brooksville campus. Giannet said the plan is to convert the gymnasium into a multi-purpose academic building.

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