This article appeared in the St. Augustine Record . Original can be found here.
The goal of the multimillion-dollar project, which had a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Dec. 8, is to give visiting scientists and students a place to stay and conduct coastal, environmental and marine biology research.
“We are pretty excited about it,” said Jessica Long, director of development and external relations.
The village features a cluster of six sustainably built cottages each equipped with four bedrooms a kitchen and a shared living space. The cottages more than double the current housing by adding 24 beds.
The Florida Legislature pitched in more than $700,000 with fundraising covering the estimated additional costs of $2.3 million.
The research village project is part of an overall expansion at the campus across State Road A1A from Marineland.
Long said the next project is a 25,000-square-foot laboratory building featuring an expanded sea turtle hospital. UF has already raised more than $10 million, about half the money needed, for that project. The goal is to raise more money in 2019 and begin building by 2020.