University breaks ground on new area campus

CLEARWATER — Fort Lauderdale-based Nova Southeastern University has broken ground on a 325,000-square-foot Tampa Bay regional campus in Clearwater.

When construction is complete, it will replace NSU's existing Tampa campus and its programs, and will include a new site for the university's Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, which is expected to enroll 150 students when the new campus opens in summer 2019.

According to a press release, the new campus — at 3400 Gulf to Bay Blvd. — was made possible by a $50 million gift and an additional $150 million investment in real estate and facilities from the Patel Family Foundation, a charitable organization set up by local philanthropists Kiran and Pallavi Patel.