FGCU's Naples campus funds face December deadline

Florida Gulf Coast University has nailed down $4 million of a $30 million effort to build a center for the college’s off-campus programs in downtown Naples.

The project is part of a slew of fundraising initiatives outlined by the FGCU Foundation board of directors on Wednesday, including an effort to pull in the $2.5 million needed for the university’s leap into Division I athletics.

The university’s board of trustees voted in January to take the athletics program from Division II to Division I, an action that will take five years to complete and require the university to upgrade its athletic facilities and build new ones.

“It’s easier to raise money for the athletics program now that we’re moving forward,” said university President Bill Merwin.

The jump to Division I will begin in the fall of 2007, Merwin said.

The university is considering contracts with local cable providers and approaching major donors for the $5 million that will build a new athletics complex on the south Lee County campus. The foundation, which makes up the fundraising arm of the university, is also trying to pin down the $2.5 million that will fund the athletics program through its first five years.

The Naples center and athletics program are only part of a list of expansions the foundation is actively seeking donors to help fund, said Steve Magiera, the university’s vice president for advancement.

A music program that will be introduced in the fall and a performance hall that state lawmakers have already set aside $12.7 million to build also are considered top priorities, Magiera said.

The university will try to raise $15 million before the end of the year to build the off-campus center in Naples, which is planned for the northwest corner of U.S. 41 and Goodlette-Frank Road.

The university has a December deadline to get the money considered under the state’s matching grant program. The $30 million facility will includes classrooms and a 400-seat concert hall.

“It’s a lot of money,” Magiera said. “I’m not sure how realistic that is.”

The university will offer college-accredited courses from the Naples center, which will also house the university’s Renaissance Academy, a continuing education program the university launched in 2001.

The program now operates from rented space on Fifth Avenue South in Naples and has 2,000 students, a substantial increase from the 200 students who enrolled during its first year. The foundation already has agreed to take out a $5 million loan to buy 2 acres of land where the new Naples Center will be built.

The university also will try to bring in $5 million for a state-of-the-art performing arts hall on the campus that will help launch its emerging music program.

Merwin said he would like to bring in another $5 million, money that would be matched by the state and allow for a $23 million building that could one day rival the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, Merwin said.

Funding for the music program itself may prove trickier.

The university hasn’t calculated the costs for the program, which will open with 20 students in the fall, but providing students with pianos alone could cost several million dollars, Magiera said.

“We have all kinds of needs in that area,” Magiera said.

While the total costs for the Naples center, performing arts hall, and athletics program comes out to more than $58 million — an amount that includes money already committed by the state and through private gifts — the university has more than proven its mettle when it comes to attracting donors.

The foundation has brought in more than $30 million during the past year, an amount that allowed the group to complete a $200 million capital campaign that was kicked off in 1999.

Expansions on the south Lee County campus also received a significant boost from the state last month after Gov. Jeb Bush released a budget with $46 million for more classrooms, parking, and the performance hall at FGCU, more than the university has ever received during a single legislative session.

“We’ve had an extremely successful year,” Magiera said.

FGCU fundraising

The Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation Board of Directors is focusing its fundraising efforts on the following expansions:

-- The Naples Center: The FGCU Foundation has raised $4 million toward a $15 million campaign to fund an extension campus in downtown Naples. The university will ask the state to match the funds for a $30 million building.

-- Performing Arts Center: State lawmakers already have set aside $12.7 million for a performing arts center on the south Lee County campus. The university will now try to match that amount and build a $26 million music hall complete with classrooms and studio spaces.

-- Division I athletics: FGCU needs $2.5 million to fund its move into Division I athletics for the initial five years of the program. Major donors are now being approached to help build a new athletics complex; the university will also explore cable contracts with Comcast.

-- Music program: The program will open this fall with 20 students. The foundation has secured a $100,000 endowed scholarship and the state will match the money. Total costs for the program have not been calculated at this point.