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Left to right: Student Nick Kanich; Stan and Melanie Benecki; Dean Dan Smith; Professor Jeffrey D. Fisher; Student Dan Huml; Student Amanda Gerson; Tom Bewley, director of development, major gifts; Student John Holloway
When Stanley Benecki looks at land, he sees opportunity.
That’s how this Atlanta-based developer and IU alumnus built a successful career in real estate. But Stan’s most recent vision isn’t of high-rise hotels or luxury homes. It’s about education. Stan has donated undeveloped beachfront lots in Florida valued at $1.95 million to IU. His gift will enable Kelley School of Business students the opportunity to market and sell that land.
The lots are located on Dog Island in Florida, located three miles off the northwestern coast near St. George Sound and the Apalachicola Bay. Over the next two years, Jeffrey D. Fisher, director of the Benecki Center for Real Estate Studies and the Charles H. and Barbara F. Dunn professor of real estate, will oversee a project to sell the land. Fisher, a former professor of Stan’s, will lead MBA and undergraduate students, who will help to create a plan to develop and market the property.
“This gives students an opportunity to become developers by getting out there and figuring out ways to market and increase the value of these lots,” says Stan, president of Benecki Fine Homes. “I think it will be exciting for students. This will be a real project.”
The island is only accessible by plane or boat. With nearly 100 residents, neighboring lots host very high-end homes valued in the millions, with only a few occupied year-round. The Nature Conservancy owns 65 percent of the island and was offered the lots prior to Stan’s gift to Indiana University. “It’s going to be a matter of figuring out what the unique market would be for that type of property,” Fisher adds.
Real estate students who don’t directly work on the project will still benefit from Stan’s gift. Profits from the sale will be used to create endowments for the Benecki Center for Real Estate Studies, along with a professorship and undergraduate scholarship program named after Stan.
“It is an honor to name the center in recognition of Mr. Benecki’s incredible career in real estate and his generosity to the school,” says Kelley Dean Daniel C. Smith.
Stan has given IU students a gift of insight. And they’ll have an expert advisor in Stan, who has developed luxury homes from Atlanta to Chicago, and, of course, Florida. “Experiential learning is one of the hallmarks of the Kelley School,” says Smith. “Our real estate students will gain invaluable experience in managing the sale of the gift property.”
Stan says he bought the property as an investment. His investment, it turns out, will grow through the work of the IU faculty and students it touches.