UGA likely to buy Costa Rican forest, Italian convent

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Posted 4:53PM on Tuesday, May 7, 2002

ATLANTA - The University of Georgia is likely to buy a tropical forest in Costa Rica and a 13th century convent in Italy for permanent study-abroad programs. A committee of the state Board of Regents voted unanimously Tuesday to give the school permission to proceed with the acquisition of both properties, plus a new parking deck and dining hall for the Athens campus. The real estate committee needed to OK the rental agreements before the full board approves them Wednesday. It's unlikely the full board will disagree. The university has already begun acquiring the 169-acre forest and convent, which will be used to house students studying in Cortona, Italy. The school's legally independent foundations will acquire the properties, then lease them back to the state at a total cost of $305,000 a year, which will be paid by students studying there. The university already owns property in Oxford, England. UGA President Michael Adams attended the meeting Tuesday and said a new emphasis on international study recently placed Georgia at Number 15 nationally in the number of students studying abroad. The Costa Rican forest is considered unusual because of its high altitude, giving it an ecosystem seldom seen in the rest of the tropics. That land will host science and Spanish programs. Georgia also is likely to win approval for a new dining hall and 850-space parking deck on the eastern edge of campus. New dorms have already been slated for the area by 2005, giving the school its first new dorms in more than 30 years. The committee also gave tentative approval to the demolition of two unused buildings on the Georgia Tech campus. The two-story Whitehead Infirmary Building will be replaced by a new student health center. A smaller, unnamed building near Tech's football stadium will also be razed to make room for a larger plaza entrance to the stadium.