The University of Georgia recently sold its 2,500-acre Lake Blackshear property to an undisclosed buyer for $18.5 million, it announced Wednesday. The money will go to its Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.
The funds will specifically go to three places, university officials said. Some will go into updating campus facilities in Athens. The rest will be split into two endowments.
The first endowed fund will go to postdoctoral positions, better equipment and research. The second endowed fund will go to hiring more staff and improving technology for the school.
Dale Greene, the school’s dean, explained that the funding will allow faculty to be more flexible with research programs or projects.
The University of Georgia acquired the land from a gift that businessman Charles Wheatley gave the school in 1989.
The land was kept for lumber and hunting, but the university looked into selling it last year. The university took care of it by investing $1.3 million into planting more trees and controlling invasive species.
The relationship is symbiotic, netting $8.2 million over the years in timber sales. University officials said the money supported graduate school students and the forest health program.
Why sell it now? Because the time was right, Greene said in a statement.
“We are very pleased with the outcome, and the funds from the sale will be transformative for our school as we prepare the next generation of foresters and natural resources professionals,” said Greene.
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