Tags
Capital, Education, investment, Job Growth, Tampa, University, urban space
Recently, it has come out in local papers that Jeff Vinik, Lightning Owner and real estate investor, has offered USF a parcel of land at the corner of Channelside Drive & Meridien Avenue for use as a site for a proposed medical school. A medical school in our downtown area would do great things for Tampa. Not the least of which would be to bring STEM workers downtown. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A medical school would teach AND employ workers in all four of these fields- as USF is a research institute and work completed on the college campus would likely include new medical technology, and procedural innovations. With a move to downtown Tampa, it is likely that the school’s presence would attract additional STEM companies to the immediate area.
Additionally, a new university that had a STEM focus would draw investors to the area- as a recent trend in investment strategy has been to define the presence of technology firms and STEM workers in a metro area and screen acquisitions based on proximity to these ‘hubs’. You can see the evidence of this in places like Atlanta, Austin and Raleigh-Durham where these cities place great emphasis on their technology parks, medical research labs and schools.
Investors are interested in acquiring properties near these cities for many reasons, but one that cannot be overlooked is the fact that they have a high concentration of well-educated workers who are readily willing to spend money on office space, retail, and entertainment for themselves and clients. Additionally, as the world becomes more technology-reliant these workers and the accompanying jobs they hold are seen as stable within the community.
As I described in a previous post, the influx of educated talent to the downtown area will likely be a draw for companies in the future, as we trend away from a lack of jobs in the market and instead anticipate a dip in available, educated employees to fill open positions. Companies will begin to move to areas with an educated workforce and moving a major university medical campus to downtown will only benefit Tampa as we compete with other Sunbelt cities for major employers.