Plan for College Town unveiled
Tallahassee Democrat –By Doug Blackburn
June 26, 2010
College Town, which promises to be a key component to the Gaines Street redevelopment project, was unveiled at Friday’s Florida State University Board of Trustees meeting.
College Town is the name being given to a proposed entertainment and residential district that would be located just east of FSU’s football stadium between Gaines and South Madison streets.
Very much a work in progress, College Town would link downtown Tallahassee to the FSU campus and create a signature entrance to the university.
Seminole Boosters, the fundraising arm of FSU athletics, and Hunter & Harp Holdings LLC, a Tallahassee-based acquisition company, are the primary driving forces behind College Town.
It has been in the planning stages for more than 18 months and would feature approximately 150,000 square feet of living and entertainment space, said John Carnaghi, vice president of finance and administration at FSU and chairman of the Madison Street Task Force Committee.
William Butler, an asset and portfolio manager hired by Seminole Boosters for the project, estimated construction costs for the first phase of College Town at $17 million. The Boosters will own all of the land to be developed.
“I think it would be a real enhancement,” FSU President Eric Barron said.