Video: Corcoran trashes $3MM of taxpayer dollars
Richard Corcoran is demolishing the mobile-home-like temporary student housing he spent $3 million in taxpayer dollars on, after students were only able to live in them for a total of less than 2 months.
As reported early this year, Richard Corcoran made an ill-advised purchase of “modular temporary dorms” for New College’s 2024-2025 school year. The modular dorms, which students mockingly called the “Banyan Boxes” due to their poor looks and internal shabbiness, were clearly not suited to Florida’s humid conditions and hurricane season. The dorms cost the public school $3 million, not including costs to prepare the site, add foundations, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, landscaping, and adding wooden walkways, all of which added an estimated additional $1 million in costs.
The timeline of the “Banyan Boxes”:
June 2024, Corcoran proposed the modular dorms to the Board of Trustees at a cost of $3 million, and Corcoran said “we think that we'll be able to sell them in three years... and maybe even recoup our money”.
The temporary dorms were not ready when school started in August 2024, so students were only able to move int the temporary housing in early September 2024 accompanied by complaints of moldy smells, dirty conditions, and lack of adequate air conditioning.
Students were not evacuated during hurricane Helene in spite of mandatory evacuation order for mobile homes.
Students moved out of the dorms after hurricane Milton in October 2024, and never moved back in.
Students occupied the temporary dorms for less than 2 months in total.
The purchase of the “Banyan Boxes” was a poorly conceived stopgap to Corcoran’s housing problem: he hasn’t repaired the dorms he took offline for mold issues and he hasn’t built new dorms, so today the the majority of New College student housing is at off campus at hotels or at the USF Sarasota-Manatee dorm.
Now, in August 2025, Corcoran is demolishing the portables. Below are videos of where $3MM in taxpayer dollars have gone.
Corcoran may be able to get some reimbursement from insurance or the manufacturer of the portables, but the most important point is that New College students have not had on-campus housing due to Corcoran’s poor decision making. These portables were clearly not capable of working in Florida.
Corcoran has failed to make any progress on building dorms over his 2.5 years at New College. Instead of building dorms, Corcoran is hoping to take USF Sarasota-Manatee’s dorms.
