Food truck rally, activities to mark opening of roads, park in Innovation Square
June 11, 2014
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- The public is invited to join area officials in celebrating the grand opening of the Innovation Square roadways and park at 4:30 p.m. June 13 at 749 SW 2nd Ave.
Speakers will include Mayor Ed Braddy, University of Florida President Bernie Machen, and Bradley Pollitt, chair of the College Park University Heights Advisory Board for the Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency, or CRA.
A food truck rally from 5:30 to 8 p.m. will follow the ceremonial ribbon-cutting at the intersection of Southwest Ninth Street and Southwest Third Avenue. The rally will feature 11 food trucks, entertainment and children’s activities.
The new infrastructure will help developers build quickly and motivate tenants to occupy space, said Ed Poppell, director of economic development at the UF Development Corp., which is offering development land for buildings or projects.
Innovation Square will be used for office, research and hi-tech offices with residences, retail, hotel and open space that will connect UF with downtown.
The project was a partnership among the CRA, UF, Gainesville Regional Utilities, Innovation Square and City of Gainesville Public Works Department.
The Innovation Square infrastructure development and preparation for the construction of office space is part of the vision for its “Live, Work, Play” community, Poppell said. This consists of residential housing for living, jobs for work and retail, restaurants and recreation for play in the same development.
In addition, Signet Corp., in partnership with Innovation Square and the UF Department of Housing and Residence Education, is developing and building Infinity Hall, which will be the nation’s first entrepreneurial-based academic residential community, according to the website. It will be completed next summer.
For more details about the event, go to: