A thriving, bustling medical school smack in the middle of downtown Tampa? As Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn puts it, this would be a game changer. (If you don't mind a sports analogy about downtown that has nothing to do with actual sports, or baseball, or baseball downtown.) <\/p>\n
A very big buzz about downtown Tampa's future has long been baseball specifically how to land the much-loved Tampa Bay Rays here from across the bay one day. <\/p>\n
Lightning owner Jeff Vinik made things more immediately interesting recently with his vision for reshaping his own 24-acre chunk of downtown with a sweeping urban district of hotels, shops, commercial space, restaurants and entertainment. <\/p>\n
Things are happening. So, about that med school buzz. <\/p>\n
The University of South Florida medical school on its main Tampa campus is bursting at the seams and in need of new digs. <\/p>\n
Do they expand at the campus or make a big, bold move to give the school urban cachet and help transform downtown along the way? <\/p>\n
Imagine students helping to fill a downtown that once slowed to tumbleweed pace when 5 p.m. rush hour hit, living in hipster high-rises, filling pubs, restaurants and stores, taking citified dogs to dog parks on the Riverwalk. Yes, Tampa's newly energized downtown has actual dog parks. <\/p>\n
And no, Tampa has not quite reached the breezy, buzzy easiness of living in downtown St. Petersburg, which had a whole lot of historic mindfulness about its waterfront and green spaces. But earlier this year, Buckhorn was at a ribbon cutting for not just another downtown restaurant or hotel these days you can't walk down the street without tripping over one of our fancy hotels but at a veterinarian's office. <\/p>\n
Hello, downtown grocery? <\/p>\n
The mayor loves the idea of a medical school in our midst, a 24-7 changeup for his city. USF's medical school dean has allowed that it could be an \"exciting\" option. Vinik's people see its potential in this recent statement: \"We admire that USF is dreaming big, and we are doing the same thing!\" <\/p>\n
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The rest is here:<\/p>\n
Medical school just what the doctor ordered<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A thriving, bustling medical school smack in the middle of downtown Tampa? As Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn puts it, this would be a game changer. Continue reading