Give a little, make a lot

South Florida CEO, Sept, 2004 by Jaclyn Alcantara

Charlie Vavrus can afford to slice off 100 acres of his property holdings and donate it to Florida's state university system. The Palm Beach County rancher will still own roughly 4,700 acres to graze cattle on while he watches the development of the Scripps Research Institute on the adjacent Mecca Farms site. Vavrus announced the donation on Aug. 12. The land will be used for "a multi-university research campus" meant to aid the collaboration between Scripps and Florida public and private universities and colleges. Right now, only the University of Florida and Florida Atlantic University have committed to participating, but other schools are likely to join the campus.

The motivation behind the donation may be altruistic in nature, but there is no doubt that Vavrus stands to make a killing once development in the area gains momentum. Besides having the Scripps site to its west, the new campus is directly south of 1,700 acres of land Vavrus plans sell to Tech Village Partners II, a joint venture between real estate developers Lennar Corp. and Centex Corp. that plans to build the Gardens Science & Technology Village there.

Vavrus' lawyer Ernie Cox says his client was approached in October 2003 with a proposal to sell some land that would be developed with facilities that would attract Scripps to Palm Beach County. Vavrus agreed to the sale and the creation of the Gardens Science & Technology Village, which will include a research and development park as well as residential and commercial units. Cox adds that it was Vavrus' desire to "do something for the system" that prompted the 100-acre donation, which will be handed over to The Board of Trustees Internal Improvement Trust Fund of Florida.

Once the sale and donation are finalized. Vavrus' holdings will still total a whopping 2,963 acres of land. Cox says he and Vavrus are "just beginning to put together some concepts for what the rest of the land might look like," noting that the sum of Vavrus' land holdings in the area, together with the Scripps site, make an area "about the size of the research triangle in North Carolina. So if this project is as successful as I think we all hope it will be, it's still going to take 20 to 30 years to build it."

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