Groundbreaking

Jesuit High School celebrated a beautiful and historic groundbreaking ceremony Friday (June 3) on campus for a new chapel and new administration building, as the school launched Phase I of its extraordinary campus master plan.

The two spectacular new structures – the Chapel of the Holy Cross and the 32,000 square foot Administration and Student Services building – have been made possible by the success of Jesuit’s $35 million ‘For Greater Glory’ campaign.

The ceremony was attended by about 150 guests, including many Jesuit faculty and staff, ‘For Greater Glory’ campaign donors, and Board of Trustees members, and it featured musical accompaniment by the Jesuit student orchestra.

Friday’s event began with remarks from student body president Jack Knipe ’17, principal Barry Neuburger, Board of Trustees chairman Joe Caballero ’86, and school president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J. It concluded with a blessing from Fr. Hermes, and the ceremonial shovels-in-the-dirt groundbreaking by campaign co-chairs Joe Capitano Jr. ’84, Richard Gonzmart ’71, and John Oliva ’60, as well as Caballero, Knipe, Neuburger, and Fr. Hermes. (Homepage photo, L-R: Gonzmart, Oliva, Neuburger, Fr. Hermes, Caballero, Knipe, Capitano.)

Click here for a Tampa Bay Times story about the ceremony.
Click here for a Tampa Bay Business Journal story about the ceremony, with video.

‘For Greater Glory’ and the campus master plan were unveiled Sept. 19 at the President’s Dinner. The landmark campaign ensures the school, which was founded downtown in 1899 and moved to Himes Ave. in 1956, will continue forming young men in the Tampa Bay area in the 470-year tradition of Jesuit education.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross becomes the fourth primary sacred space for Jesuit High School in Tampa, following St. Louis Church and Sacred Heart Church downtown for nearly six decades, and then St. Anthony’s Chapel, which was built soon after the school moved to Himes Ave. (Sunday's Grand Reunion Mass will be the final Mass in St. Anthony's.) The grand, two-story Administration and Student Services building will be the face of Jesuit along Himes Ave. Both structures are expected to be completed by late 2017.

Subsequent phases of the campus master plan include a comprehensive two-story, collegiate-style Student Activities Center with a 500-seat Dining Hall; a Fine and Performing Arts Center with a 450-seat theater/auditorium; and a two-story, state-of-the-art Science and Math building.

Batson-Cook is the construction manager. Cooper Johnson Smith is the architect for the administration building and all aspects of the campus master plan except the chapel. The chapel architect is Duncan G. Stroik of the University of Notre Dame, the 2016 Arthur Ross Award recipient for Architecture.

View a video from the event below, and a photo slideshow below that: