SARASOTA - New College may be known as one of the best value colleges in the nation, and the school is hoping a massive new project only adds to that value.

The school is in the midst of a seawall and shoreline restoration project, an initiative school officials say won't benefit just New College students, but anyone yearning to learn.

It’s a $2 million construction project that school officials say will serve as a focal point for learning and bring the look of the whole area back to the way it almost a century ago, back when John Ringling himself walked the grounds.

The project includes the creation of a lagoon and the restoration of the seawall originally commissioned by John Ringling. "They built in the 1920's as a gravity seawall, a massive heavy seawall," says New College assistant VP Julie Morris.

But as the years dragged on, time took its toll. "It’s been kind of rundown and in disrepair for a number of years."

So New College officials like Morris decided the time for a project was now. "We're reconstructing the seawall, we will have an esplanade along the Bayfront, we going to reconstruct the historic balustrade that was at the top of the seawall. We're trying to recreate the aesthetic feel of the Ringling era."

And the area just north of the re-built seawall is getting a new addition as well. "In that section we are going to degrade and breach the seawall and create a new inter-tidal lagoon," says Morris.

It’s something she says will improve the health of the bay. "To remove a vertical seawall and create a soft, sandy sloping, inter-tidal habitat, it's really a positive benefit for the bay."

It’s giving New College biology students and all others a new place to study all that Suncoast waters have to offer. "K-12 students who visit campus and visit our Pritzker Marine Science Center and lab, they'll be using the new inter-tidal habitat as a way to do K-12 activities."

It’s a project that honors the past while building for the future. “It’s just a real positive project for both the bay and the college and those who visit the college."

The entire area is designated as a national historic district, so all the construction they're doing has to fit with the historic feel of this area.