UCF gathers another $2.5 million toward downtown campus pledge, but still short

The University of Central Florida announced Monday it has attracted another $2.5 million in private donations toward its proposed downtown campus but the university remains $7 million short of its pledge for the project.

The university had pledged to the state it would raise $20 million toward the $60 million proposed downtown campus before asking the state to also kick in $20 million.

The new pledges, which includes $1 million from the developer, brings UCF’s private fund to $13 million.

UCF is scheduled to make that pitch to the Florida Board of Governors on Wednesday.

“Many of our community partners have responded generously to our request for $20 million in philanthropy supporting UCF Downtown,” UCF President John Hitt stated in a release issued by the university Monday. “We appreciate our community’s strong commitment as we look forward to making our case for a downtown campus to the Board of Governors.”

Under the deal UCF has offered, $20 million would be paid by the university, $20 million from private donations, and $20 million from the state. UCF began collecting large private donations late last summer, and had received previous pledges from the Orlando Magic, CFE Federal Credit Union, Florida Hospital, Orange County, Valencia College, and a number of university officials, including Hitt.

The UCF downtown campus, used jointly with Valencia, would be a key part of a much larger development planned for the northwest corner of downtown Orlando, called Creative Village. Last month the city of Orlando pledged $67 million in land, buildings and infrastructure improvements toward the Creative Village plan, specifically to support the UCF campus.

In addition to $1 million from the developer, Creative Village Development LLC, the latest pledges include $500,000 from Orlando philanthropist Alan Ginsburg; $300,000 from Orlando City Soccer Club; $250,000 from CNL Financial Group; $250,000 from Universal Orlando Foundation and Universal Orlando Resort; $100,000 from Dr. Bruce Douglas of Winter Park; and $100,000 from Coca-Cola.