FAMU Closes on $97.5M Loan for 700-Bed Student Residence Hall

President Robinson with members of the team at the closing for the HBCU Capital Financing Program–backed loan.

Florida A&M University (FAMU) signed a $97.5 million 30-year federal loan to finance construction of a new 700-bed student residence hall.

The funding is being done through the U.S. Department of Education’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Capital Financing Program.

President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., joined with Chief Financial Officer/Vice President for Finance and Administration Rebecca W. Brown and other senior officials in the fourth-floor conference room of Lee Hall Tuesday morning to participate in a teleconference call for the signing. On the call were federal and state officials as well as representatives from the financial and legal firms involved in the completion of the deal. The new residence hall will increase the University’s on-campus housing capacity to more than 3,000 beds.

“We see this additional housing as an investment in the success of our students, something we are here primarily to do,” said Robinson, who thanked key players, such as Vice President Brown, Vice President of Student Affairs William E. Hudson, Jr., Ph.D., and various partners who made the deal possible.

Those partners include the U.S. Department of Education, the Florida Board of Governors, Regions Bank, Brentwood Capital Partners, the FAMU Board of Trustees, Florida Division of Bond Finance, Rice Capital Access Program, LLC (RCAP), the firm selected by the U.S. Department of Education to administer the HBCU Capital Financing Program. In 2018, FAMU financed the construction of the 700-bed FAMU Towers with a $125 million HBCU Capital Program loan.

 

“This is something that we are really excited about,” Robinson continued. “These 700 beds will make a huge difference in the lives of our students.”

Construction of the new facility is scheduled to begin in March, with the residence hall expected to be completed in July 2025 to facilitate July-August 2025 occupancy.

The new student residence will be located along Osceola Street just north of the FAMU Towers, which were completed in 2020. It will occupy an area now used as the gravel parking lot. There will be 193 parking spaces associated with the new 700-bed residential hall when it is completed. 

The project contractor is FINFROCK Construction, LLC, which also built FAMU Towers.

CFO Brown said this project reflects considerable collaboration between the University and its federal and state partners.

“This is a huge step for Florida A&M University to increase its capacity to house and educate the best and brightest students in the nation.  I am extremely honored to have led the financial and administrative tasks associated with the HBCU Loan,” Brown added. “There was great collaboration among the federal government, the State of Florida, and the University.”