FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 16th, 2013 Larkin Health Sciences Campus, LLC. (LHSC) under its proposal to develop its related health sciences campus as a private University was awarded unanimous approval by the COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARD 15 of South Dade in a 4-0 vote. The Board further concurred that given the typical intensity of development for a Traditional Neighborhood District (TND), the proposed University Campus would be compatible with the surrounding uses and the allowed use within the TND zoning designation under Section 33-311(A)(3), Special Exceptions, Unusual Uses and New uses of the Miami-Dade County Zoning Code. In attendance were members of the Naranja Lakes CRA and members of the community, all of whom expressed unanimous support for the LHSC Development. The approval of the application allows LHSC to establish its private University Campus within 1/2 mile of the Urban Development Boundary. The completion of this process now allows LHSC to proceed with its modification submittal to the existing Approved Site Plan for the 200-acre Traditional Neighborhood District (TND)development that it is part of in Naranja Lakes/Mandarin Lakes. The next step is to move forward with a site plan development and then to submit construction plans for the first phase of our development.  Phase 1 of construction is planned to begin in the Summer of 2014 and be completed in the Fall of 2016. Phase 1 will include the College of Pharmacy, School of Nursing, College of Biomedical Sciences and College of Osteopathic Medicine.  While the Larkin School of Nursing is already operating at Larkin Community Hospital's South Miami Campus, the school will eventually move to the new site.  The College of Biomedical Sciences will begin accepting students as early as January 2014.