TAMPA Jeff Vinik wants the University of South Florida to build a new medical school on his downtown property so badly that he's willing to give the school an acre of his land to seal the deal.

The Tampa Bay Lightning owner made the offer this week to USF president Judy Genshaft and Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, according to a university spokesman.

"It would be a gift from Mr. Vinik to the university," said USF spokesman Adam Freeman, "and it would be contingent upon the Morsani College of Medicine and USF Health Heart Institute being built in that location."

Vinik's offer was made public during Wednesday's meeting of the USF Board of Trustees health workgroup, a committee that oversees USF Health's academic and medical programs. A Vinik spokesman declined to comment.

The donation from Vinik would satisfy a make-or-break condition for the project laid down by Genshaft: Last week she told the Tampa Bay Times that the university would build a downtown medical school only on donated land. She said USF would not buy any downtown property for the proposed project.

But bringing USF's new medical school to downtown would satisfy an important part of Vinik's plan to redevelop downtown Tampa.

The Lighting owner has amassed a significant chunk of southern downtown around the team's home at the Amalie Arena: the Channelside Bay Plaza outdoor mall, the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina and 24 empty acres around the arena.

By the end of the year, Vinik is set to unveil his plans to transform the area into a walkable entertainment district with room for retail, residential, hotel and office space. He's already planning to build a new high-rise hotel west of the arena.

But Vinik also wants to attract major employers in high-end industries to his redevelopment project, including a downtown medical school.

The land that Vinik has proposed donating to USF is "about an acre," Freeman said, at the corner of Channelside Drive and S Meridian Avenue, across the street from an arena parking lot Vinik owns next to the Tampa Bay History Center.

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Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik will donate land for downtown USF medical school