Florida Gulf Coast University President Wilson Bradshaw has decided not to move a big land grant offer forward.
The school’s foundation was set to consider the proposed gift during a presentation in June. However, disagreement over when to cast a final vote on the land grant has all but killed it.
A company called Private Equity Group offered to give FGCU hundreds of acres near its campus. In exchange, the school would be asked to privately and publicly support the company’s efforts to rezone neighboring land that sits in a density reduction zone.
FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw said the land grant would have been great for the school, but Private Equity was hoping for a final vote from the school’s foundation on the proposal in June.
Bradshaw said that would have been too soon.
“That’s a lot of information and that’s a complex gift agreement,” he said. “And I think to be fair to those who have to make the decision I think it was only proper that they have time to deliberate on it.”
Bradshaw said he would have otherwise liked the Foundation to consider the proposal, but he wanted a longer timeframe.
“My expectation was that they would have a thorough presentation with details, ask any questions that they might have and then have some time to deliberate on the gift,” he said. “It’s potentially a very large gift and the terms being proposed were very complex.”
Environmental groups like the Conservancy of Southwest Florida spoke out against the land grant proposal.
The Conservancy said development in the neighboring conservation land could have adversely impacted the area’s drinking water.
Fort Myers businessman O.J. Buigas, who was looking to donate the land, told The News-Press in an email that he was “disappointed” the school decided not to move the grant proposal forward.
Bradshaw says the school would be open to considering the proposal again under a longer timeline.
