Opened: August 2020Architect: The Beck Group
Sometimes a new residence hall is more than just the new building on campus. In the case of the Osprey Suites at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, it is a valuable addition that will dramatically alter the campus’s climate. While it is the third residence hall on campus, with its 375 beds it will increase the on-campus capacity by almost 70% in an effort to meet the growing demand.
Of course, due to COVID precautions, fewer than 200 students actually moved in at the beginning of the academic year. The first floor includes a lounge, study area, and a community kitchen. A new first-floor dining hall will go online in 2021 as well. On the upper floors, the rooms are suite-style in configuration, most being shared two-bedroom, one-bath suites. Others have three or four single-occupancy bedrooms with two bathrooms. A student lounge and study room are on each floor. A notable feature is that the tabletops in the community living room and kitchen as well as the front desk are made from the wood of trees that were cut down to clear space for the building.
“Osprey Suites is a game-changer for our campus as well as our residential inventory,” says Susan Prisco Kimbrough, director of housing and residential education at USF St. Petersburg. “Not only does it provide the opportunity for many more students to call our campus home, it also provides a residential living room and a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces for our students to connect, live, and learn.”
Osprey Suites will host a variety of learning communities. Along with the Leadership House and the Honors Living Learning Community there is a Bio Life first-year interest group for students majoring in biology. The building also includes a recruitment suite which can be used to showcase the living experience to prospective students.
— James A. Baumann