Hello again, everyone! As anticipated, the First Presidency announced the next major temple construction update today: another temple groundbreaking: this one for the Tampa Florida Temple.Let's get to the details: The groundbreaking in question will be held on Saturday, August 23, 2025. Presiding at the temple's groundbreaking will be Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with him set to fill that assignment just two weeks to the day after his birthday.
If memory serves me correctly, Elder Andersen was either the first president of the Tampa Florida Stake folllowing its' creation, or he served as the president of the existing stake in Tampa during his tenure as stake president, so it's altogether fitting and proper that he has been asked to fill this assignment, since he and his wife still have ties to the area the temple will serve.
The announced arrangements for the Tampa Florida Temple follow that temple's announcement in April 2022, an original site announcement roughly six months later, the release of an exterior rendering in March 2023, and the announcement of a new location for that temple in April of last year. The law school building that formerly occupied the second location announced for that temple was demolished a short time ago, so the announcement of this groundbreaking was not totally unexpected.
This will mark the second groundbreaking set to occur on August 23: the Church previously announced the groundbreaking for the Vancouver Washington Temple on that date, and that information remains unchanged, marking the first time in a few years that two temple groundbreakings have been set to occur on the same day. Since Florida is in the Eastern time zone, the groundbreaking for Tampa will take place before that of Vancouver.
As a result of today's announcement, the groundbreakings for the Vancouver Washington and Fairbanks Alaska Temples are moved down on the list to now being the 14th and 15th such ceremonies planned to be held this year, which means that 2025 outpaces 2024 by one so far, and the Church is not done with temple groundbreakings for this year yet, so I think we may come closer to 20 or 30 by the end of the year, if not more.I am grateful for this update and for the chance to share it with you all.
Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines.
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The Church News published this report on today's announcement. That article confirms Elder Andersen's connection to the Tampa Florida Stake, though it doesn't say if he was the first president thereof. But at least the article confirms the connection, in recognition of which the First Presidency decided to give Elder Andersen this opportunity that would be personally-meaningful to him. The Church News article also notes that this marks the first time since 2022 that an apostle is personally presiding over a groundbreaking, and also mentions that the Tampa Florida Temple was announced in the same year as the Jacksonville Florida Temple, which is also likely to see a groundbreaking announced soon.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I will also note that I am a little surprised that the Church didn't announced any temple dedications today. Hopefully later this month. My thanks once again to you all.
On a separate note, open house reservations are now available for the Grand Junction Colorado Temple. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteWhat other temples do you expect to break ground this year?
DeleteScooter, thanks for the question. Among my top candidates to watch between now and the end of the year are the following: Jacksonville Florida, Lone Mountain Nevada, Bakersfield California, Colorado Springs Colorado, Fairview Texas, Cuernavaca Mexico, and Huntsville Alabama, based on recent updates provided by the Church Temples site on each of these temples.
DeleteThe following additional temples might have groundbreakings either before the end of this year or in the early months of next year: Cape Town South Africa, Barcelona Spain, Oslo Norway, and La Paz Bolivia. Aside from those I mentioned by name, this year, the Church broke ground on several temples that had their renderings released last year or earlier this year. So if you look at the Church of Jesus Christ Temple's construction status page, any of those might with a rendering released in the last year or two could be fair game for groundbreakings this year as well.
That being said, my primary reason for saying that more gorundbreakings are definitively forthcoming is because the Church has the rest of the year (September, October, November, and December) that could be filled out with groundbreakings. I'll be just as interested in what's announced for the rest of the year whether or not it's on the list I outlined above. Thanks again for asking about this. If you have any follow-up questions on this or any other feedback, I'd be happy to address it as well. I appreciate hearing from you!
Hello again, everyone! This evening, the Newsroom provided this statement from the North America Southwest Area Presidency in response to the recent flooding in Texas, in addition to providing one other report. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteThe Church News also reported on the flooding in Texas. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteElder Anderson visited the Tampa area a few months ago and during a leadership meeting discussed why the temple was delayed. The original site, behind the stake center, was changed at his request. While visiting the area, the group he was with drove to the site and the traffic caused him to ponder if the site was the best location. He said he went back to Salt Lake and took out a map and drew a circle and told the temple department to find a new location within the circle. They reported back that nothing was available. Then the law school decided to move to a new location and sell. The Church quickly looked at the site and bought it, but the law school wasn't ready to move to the new location yet, so they lasted the building back from the church. January 2025, the law school started classes at the new site. The building was demolished shortly afterwards. In May, the church got unanimous approval from the county commissioners on some site changes. Since then, this official announcement has been highly anticipated.
ReplyDeleteHad the original site been kept, the temple could have been at least half way done, but the new site is far better fir the area. Right off of the interstate and much easier for more members to get to.
First rumors were that the site was moved due to soil tests, leaders not happy with the temple hidden behind the chapel, traffic studies and so forth, but Elser Anderson put all of that to rest. It was moved because the traffic from the interstate was too bad the day they drove to the site and he requested it to be moved.
It is fitting the he will preside over the groundbreaking since he has been directly involved with everything dealing with this temple.