The latest expansion plans of Full Sail Real World Education are remarkably similar to an earlier quest to discover and claim new lands, including a shared subplot involving native unrest.
If students at this media and technology college were to make an epic film documenting its current campaign to conquer, they could call it: Full Sail Sets Sail – The Sequel. Three years ago, Full Sail, with a main campus on University Boulevard, moved into the University Park shopping center, opening a 35,000-squarefoot Entertainment Business Center.
Over the years, University Park had lost a number of tenants, including such major retailers as Steinmart and Bealls. Full Sail officials said their school facilities would help sustain the shopping center, located at the intersection of University and Semoran boulevards. But nearby residents assailed the plan, saying Full Sail was pushing out businesses and imposing its campus on their neighborhood. Today, the same scenario is being repeated.
Full Sail wants to convert the 30,000- square-foot movie theater in the Kmart University Plaza on North Goldenrod Road into off-campus classrooms for about 205 students. Homeowners fear that Full Sail, after getting their foot in the door, will take over the shopping center to the detriment of small businesses.
“We do not want our little shopping center to become another Full Sail parking lot and all of the traffic that would be created,” said Waunaqua Drive resident Jerry Fuller. “The little shops will be squeezed out due to the lack of parking.” They also don’t want increased crime, traffic and parking problems encroaching further into their neighborhood.
“We have observed with dismay and concern how the peace and orderly quiet that used to characterize this neighborhood has given way to increased noise and chaos, a significant increase in traffic accidents and a troubling increase in vandalism,” said George Rosamina, a four-year resident of the area.
Another homeowner, Geri Lane of Waunaqua Drive, offered specific evidence of the rising tide of crime and traffic congestion already impacting the area. In 2006 there were 51,061 vehicles per day traveling on Goldenrod Road, on average, and 44,082 vehicles counted daily on University Boulevard.
Last year, 26 crashes were reported last year at this busy intersection. “Increased traffic will only compound this problem,” Lane said. Lane also stated that for the sixmonth period of June through December 2007, a total of 258 calls for service originated from the Full Sail main campus. But Geoff Rogers vice president of Silver City, the management partner of Full Sail’s buildings and land purchases, maintains that the college actually enhances properties.
For example, he pointed to the University Park shopping center, which Silver City purchased in 2004. Rogers said the Albertson’s grocery store that moved in there at the same time is doing well and just renewed its lease through 2011. “Full Sail is not in the business of coming in and making things worse, but making things better,” he said.
As for the volume of service calls generated by Full Sail, Rogers stated: “When you have a number of people in one place, calls happen.” Indeed, Full Sail is a growing enterprise. Now with a total of 700,000 square feet of facilities, Full Sail boasts 5,800 students and employs 1,100 employees.
Moreover, according to a recent study, Full Sail is generating $400 million in economic impact, which could grow to $2.7 billion in the next five years. These figures include the fact that Full Sail is responsible for 3,500 employment positions in the area (including graduates).
Rogers said the movie theater will be a welcome addition to its film program, as well as other related curricula. The school currently must rent out theaters to show films. He added that the cinema complex would create less traffic if used as classrooms instead of a movie theater.
Rogers said the movie theater generated almost 2,500 vehicle trips per day, compared to just 416 daily trips for its 205 students, with a traffic flow that would be more spread out during the day than the nighttime moviegoing crowd.
Rogers further explained that Full Sail, in an effort to relieve traffic congestion, is in the midst of a campaign encouraging students to walk or bicycle across its multi-site campus. He said the university also is willing to create a position of community liaison, something the university has done for its other properties, to work through any problems.
In addition, the Sun Key Apartments, with 594 units that house many UCF and Full Sail students, would also help limit vehicle traffic because it is located just north of the shopping center, he said. Traffic, however, remains a main concern for the nearly 600 homeowners who live within a half-mile radius of the Kmart University Plaza.
Denise Enderly, who lives on George Ann Street, across from the movie theater, would like a traffic signal placed at the Goldenrod entrance to the shopping center. Because students attend classes on a 24-hour schedule, security is another worry. With its own full-time security force, as well as hiring off-duty police, Rogers said Full Sail does not expect problems at the new site.
But attorney Lee Chotas, representing the other half of the Kmart University Plaza, said Full Sail would create another issue with students arriving at all hours of the day and night. “The 24/7 issue is the principal problem,” he said. He said the theater would be filled up with students several times each day, creating much more traffic than anticipated.
Acknowledging that the shopping plaza currently suffers from a lack of activity, Chotas said the center is seeking to invest more money to upgrade the property, but that is more difficult to justify with Full Sail’s presence. “The center is somewhat underutilized and it needs to be rehabbed,” Chotas said. “In order to do that there will need to be a major investment.
University uses are fundamentally inconsistent with retail shopping uses according to a number of major users.” He noted that some of the existing leases with other tenants would prevent the proposed classroom use because of parking concerns.
To mitigate any parking conflict, Silver City arranged with the shopping center to use 180 spaces near the movie theater, on the other side of the parking lot from Kmart. William Tipton, representing Silver Star Cinemas, which purchased the 23-yearold movie theater in October of last year, said the theater owner plans to lease the space to Full Sail for classrooms, but also plans on continuing to show films there.
Full Sail has postponed holding classes there until a final decision has been rendered. “We don’t feel there are any parking issues or any concerns to accommodate the proposed use,” Tipton said.
“This is a great fit for our primary tenant, Full Sail, to have these uses that fit right into the classes, degrees and programs, in film and audio, that they provide.” Despite receiving 88 commentaries in opposition to Full Sail’s request, the county’s Board of Zoning Adjustment supported the plan, concluding the proposal met the special exception criteria because it would occupy an underutilized shopping center.
Still, resident Rosamina argues that Full Sail is not a good fit for the neighborhood, and he is looking to the county for help. “The rampant, unplanned and haphazard expansion of Full Sail and its detrimental consequences has been allowed to go on unchecked by the county government for too long. It is time for the Board of County Commissioners to put a stop to it,” said Rosamina.
The issue will be decided by the County Board following a public hearing slated for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, in the County Administration Building, 201 S. Rosalind Ave. In other Full Sail news, the Winter Park City Commission last month approved the sale of an acre of land to Full Sail for $1 million.
The property at 3200 University Blvd., next to Full Sail’s main campus, was owned by the city as part of its water utility and is not contiguous with the city.
