by Save UF Grad Housing
The multi-year fight to save historic Maguire Village and University Village South, a beautiful 348-apartment UF housing community for grad students and their families, the majority international and low-income, is coming to a boil. UF has finally announced a timeline for demolition, which is slated to begin in less than a month.
UF is proposing to put up construction fencing around the 27-acre tree-filled property (located along SW 34th St. between the Harn Museum, the Southwest Rec Center, and the graffiti wall) on March 19, and plans to begin gutting them on April 3. These treasured 44 brick buildings, the multiple playgrounds, outdoor pool, clubhouse, picnic areas, and dozens of large trees would be completely removed by December if UF is allowed to pursue its plans, leaving nothing but grass, dirt, and perhaps a parking lot.
If you are wondering what UF plans to do with that space, the answer is: they have no plan! There is currently NO plan to put any other structure on this massive site, in large part because there is no funding. Through a largely non-transparent effort, starting with a “closed-to-the-public retreat” by the University of Florida Board of Trustees in summer 2024 and culminating in a Board of Trustees vote in December 2024, UF somehow acquired over $10 million to demolish these buildings from Tallahassee, taxpayer money which definitely should go towards reinvestment in the buildings (to generate future returns), instead of complete removal, which benefits no one and is money down the drain.
Some people at UF are falsely claiming that Maguire Village and UVS are “unlivable,” which is completely untrue because people were living there as little as two years ago, until UF unfairly evicted the entire community. Unless UF has secretly damaged them, the majority of the apartments should be move-in ready, with a handful needing work, which can be expected for any residential complex in Florida.
Up until about 2020, UF maintained these buildings to a very high standard, and the question needs to be asked: did some officials at UF let some of these public buildings “go bad” on purpose, so they could close them? Did they not fix simple roof leaks so that they got bigger? What happenend to the rent money that was supposed to go into this maintenance?
Graduate student surveys have repeatedly shown that what they want, what is considered “livable,” is affordability, proximity to campus, good family amenities (like open space), and a safe and welcoming community. They have (or had) all of that at Maguire Village and UVS, which some people have called not only the best graduate housing in the country, but also the “greatest achievement of mankind” (due to the way it creates peace among cultures), so why is UF not treating it as such? If they are simply kept clean and necessary repairs made (as is UF’s job), these apartments can be a beacon to future graduate students for generations more, and the envy of other universities.
What is additionally frustrating is that UF made promises to students, stakeholders, and the public that NO demolition would take place before alternatives were found, and to date, that still has not happened. They promised that they would “acquire” Varsity House, and even got a $185+ million bond approved by Alachua County to do so, but never followed through. They promised to involve graduate students more in the process, but don’t have a single grad student living in campus housing on the newly formed “Graduate Student Housing Subcommittee.” They promised to use UF’s own institutional knowledge to find alternatives, but instead are now putting a chilling effect on any professors looking to help.
UF has also refused to identify who is responsible for damaging the McNair Bostick Memorial at UVS last year, and has been unclear about what, if anything, will be preserved on site after the demolition. This non-transparency and disregard for people is another example of how this whole debacle is negatively affecting UF’s reputation and future.
So what can you do to help? For one, visit our website, SaveUFGradHousing.com, and learn more about the issue. There you can sign our Change.org Petition (which has over 1700 signatures), and you can reach out to us at SaveUFGradHousing@gmail.com if you’d like to volunteer. We are also asking everyone to contact the UF Board of Trustees before their March 27-28 meeting and demand that they keep Maguire/UVS. And if you are a former resident, or just someone with a housing experience you would like to share, please send us your story (videos or letters welcome).
Regardless of what happens in the next few months, our coalition is dedicated to holding UF accountable into the future, not just for securing affordable housing options, but also for preserving our history and our right to public participation in the decisions they make.