President's Mass & Breakfast

Jesuit High School president Fr. Richard C. Hermes, S.J. announced on Sunday (Aug. 27), during the school’s annual President’s Mass & Breakfast, Jesuit’s plans for the next phase of its historic Campus Master Plan.

Following the celebration of Mass with nearly 400 Jesuit supporters - the school's President's Circle members - at the Renaissance Hotel, Fr. Hermes announced a spectacular new Fine and Performing Arts Center would be the centerpiece of Phase II.

“This comprehensive, elegant Performing Arts Center will include a beautiful, new theater to provide needed improvements in space, lighting, and acoustics for Jesuit’s stage performers,” Fr. Hermes said. “It will foster greater collaboration between the Music Department and Fine Arts, and allow the school to better showcase student artistic achievements at events such as the annual Celebration of the Arts.

During his State of the School address, Fr. Hermes also made several announcements about the ongoing Phase I of the Campus Master Plan, which broke ground in June 2016. The new 32,000-square foot administration building will be named Gonzmart Hall, in honor of alumnus Richard Gonzmart ’71. Gonzmart launched the silent phase of the school’s $40 million ‘For Greater Glory’ capital campaign, which supports the Campus Master Plan, with a $1 million donation in 2013. Last year Gonzmart raised that gift to a total of $2.5 million.

Gonzmart Hall will open in December as the face of Jesuit on Himes Avenue. It will house the school’s administration, language classrooms, IT department, counseling offices, and student activities offices, and serve generations of future Jesuit students.

The other major structure in Phase I, the magnificent Chapel of the Holy Cross at the heart of the campus, will be dedicated in the spring of 2018. Linking the Chapel of the Holy Cross with Gonzmart Hall, Fr. Hermes announced on Sunday, will be the stately John Oliva Family Courtyard, named in honor of Jesuit’s recent Alumnus of the Year, John Oliva ’60. Oliva made one of several gifts of $1 million to the “For Greater Glory” campaign and is a campaign co-chair along with Joe Capitano Jr. ’84 and Gonzmart.

The new Performing Arts Center will be located in the northeast section of campus, on part of the current senior parking lot. Construction is expected to begin in 2019. Phase II will include other projects, among them a new state-of-the-art press box for Jesuit’s Corral Memorial Stadium, the home of the school’s football, soccer, lacrosse, and track & field programs.

Future developments in the Campus Master Plan include a new Science and Math building that will be named in honor of Richard Stephen Jenkins '75. Jenkins and his wife, Carole, made a $2.5 million donation to the school last year. Also planned in future developments is a collegiate-style Student Activities Center with adjacent Dining Hall.

Please see a photo slideshow below from Sunday President's Mass & Breakfast. Many more photos to come soon. Below the photo slideshow are renderings of the Performing Arts Center, Gonzmart Hall, and the Oliva Family Courtyard.

 

Click here for a Tampa Bay Business Journal story about Jesuit's announcements.
 

 

Performing Arts Center rendering