Local

UCF president optimistic about downtown campus

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — UCF’s President John Hitt said during his annual State of the University speech Tuesday that he believes the school will be able to raise extra money toward its downtown Orlando campus.

The university has already reached its goal to receive $20 million in private donations to qualify for state funding.

Channel 9's Michael Lopardi was at the speech Tuesday when Hitt acknowledged that the school faces some challenges, but said the best is yet to come. He pointed to a series of major projects that will likely change the landscape of Central Florida.

The campus was supposed to open in 2018, but that's now been pushed back a year. The university said it wants to make sure that campus is done right.

PREVIOUS STORY:

Another big project is the school's plan for a training hospital at Lake Nona. Right now, the College of Medicine has only one surgeon in its faculty because staff has nowhere to practice.

UCF just announced that it's moving forward with an agreement with Hospital Corporation of America to build that facility, which Hitt said should impact medical care across the region.

“I think a teaching hospital inevitably increases the quality of medical care in the community that surrounds it and I believe that'll be true at UCF as well,” Hitt said.

The university also wants to place a greater emphasis on fundraising with a goal of raising $500 million in the next three years.

Hitt has been president at UCF since 1992.