A bold new presence has arrived on East Tamiami Trail with the opening of the brand new Keiser University campus just east of the Town Centre South shopping mall. The bright building, painted in vibrant blue and green hues, is another breath of fresh air for the ever-improving East Naples district.
The new campus, opened just after Thanksgiving, represents an increase of 23,000 square feet over Keiser’s previous location on Creekside Boulevard in North Naples. Campus President Lynda Waterhouse couldn’t be happier with her new surroundings.
“I think this building has been very helpful,” Lynda Waterhouse said. “We were tucked away at the other location. We had people saying every day that they had no idea Keiser was here, didn’t know what Keiser University was. Now we’re getting traffic. We have potential students who drop in. We didn’t have that before. This has been awesome to move here. Our last building was 18,000 square feet and this building is 41,000 square feet.”
The university was built on a large vacant lot on U.S. Route 41, a rare find in today’s Naples real estate market. Waterhouse said there was virtually no public opposition to the new university. In fact, the neighbors who attended a special meeting were happy to see them come.