Former college campus in Urbana, Ohio, will house program to develop athletes

The former campus of Urbana University in Urbana, Ohio, will house a program focused on developing athletes.

 The Braxton Miller Foundation is buying the 115-acre campus and will create the Pro Development Institute, reports The Dayton Daily News. Miller played football at Ohio State University and in the NFL.

The foundation says the institute “will become the first-ever dual collegiate and professional pathway program that features its own leagues to maximize athletic growth and opportunities.”

Urbana University operated on the campus from 1850 to 2014. The school closed, and the campus was acquired by Franklin University, which ran it as a branch campus. Franklin closed the campus in 2020 in the midst of declining enrollment and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The campus has 22 buildings on 115 acres, and some of its athletics facilities were upgraded not long before it closed.

The sale of the former campus has not been finalized, according to Sherry Mercurio, Franklin University’s executive director of the Office of Community Relations.

The institution will serve as “an all-inclusive program that utilizes the most technologically and scientifically advanced development resources to provide its elite athletes with the very best in competition, coaching, and academics."