- December 5, 2025
The University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience is growing, with its new two-story research building inching its way to completion.
The project broke ground in May 2024 and the building will have 12 new laboratories. The current lab building was built in the 1970s and has the problems that come with a 50-year-old building: lab technicians and scientists often have trouble keeping spaces at a proper temperature, or the Wi-Fi and air conditioning breaks down, UF Whitney Lab Public Relations Specialist Ellie Padgett said.
“It is not conducive to the high technology, advanced, amazing research that our faculty are doing in those labs,” Padgett said. “They need a space that reflects the quality of work.”
But the new construction is not without its issues. Padgett said that the Whitney Lab is has noticed a decrease in water pressure on campus. It’s not an issue yet, she said, but with the new building coming UF is trying to resolve the problem. As of now there’s not enough water pressure in the new building to run all of the marine science equipment.
Whitney Lab has invested thousands of dollars in a new water cistern for the building.
“There’s enough [water] for safety,” Padgett said, “but for our additional operations, that’s what we need to bring in the cistern for.”
Padgett said its engineers are looking into the problem, but they’re not sure exactly where the issue is originating from. UF Whitney Lab receives its potable water from Palm Coast, and UF has been in communication with them about the campus’ water pressure numbers.
Palm Coast Utility Director Brian Roche said he reviewed the numbers and the Whitney Lab is receiving, on average, between 56-63 pounds per square inch of water pressure. That is "more than adequate water pressure," he said.
The cistern is not an ideal solution, Padgett said, but after the problem has been identified and resolved, it will be retro-fit for salt water use at the lab, like with the sea turtle hospital.
The sea turtle hospital will also be moving into the new building. UF Whitney Lab’s sea turtle hospital – which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in October – treats every turtle that enters its doors. When it first opened, she said, the hospital averaged 62-80 each year.
“This year we are already over 200 [sea turtles],” Padgett said. “There's a big need and we need to expand our premises desperately.”
While the lab’s new building barrels forward toward completion, Padgett said they are looking into more permanent solutions for the water pressure issue. That could mean replacing the campus’ pipes or moving to attach to St. Johns County’s utility system.
Nothing is decided yet, she said, and those possible solutions could take years.
“Neither are ideal, but we’ve got to do something,” she said.
