Glazer family gives millions to Ybor City vision center

The family that owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and England’s Manchester United soccer team made a multimillion-dollar gift to the Lions World Vision Institute this week — a donation that puts the Glazer dynasty’s name on a new Ybor City center aimed at expanding children’s access to eye care. 

The 30,000-square-foot facility, expected to open in 2027, will be named the Glazer Vision Health Center, a release says. The family announced the donation Sunday, Oct. 18, without disclosing the amount. However, an updated page for the project on the Lions World website says the nonprofit only has to raise an estimated $2.5 million more to pay off the $16 million project.

The Glazer’s gift builds on a longstanding partnership between the family’s foundation and the Tampa-born Lions World Vision Institute, which is the self-professed largest combined eye bank and ocular research center in the world. The Glazer Vision Foundation’s Mobile Vision Clinic, operated by Lions World, has provided more than 200,000 free eye screenings and over 20,000 free pairs of prescription glasses since 2009, the foundation says.

“Our family believes every child deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential, and access to quality vision care plays a vital role in making that possible,” Buccaneers owner and Glazer Family Foundation Chairperson Darcie Glazer Kassewitz says in the release.

The new Ybor City center will bring screenings, diagnostic services, medical eye exams, treatment, prescription glasses and follow-up care services together under one roof, the release says. The institute has previously projected the facility will serve more than 23,000 children annually, focusing on uninsured and underinsured children and families.

The new building is being constructed across the street from the institute’s existing Ybor City campus, at 2112 E. Third Ave. in Tampa. 

Financing closed in March through a transaction involving the federal New Markets Tax Credit program, which helps attract investment to underserved communities. The Florida Community Loan Fund provided a $14 million tax credit allocation, while Truist provided another $2 million allocation and served as investor, according to an announcement by the loan fund.

“Through the new Glazer Vision Health Center, children will have access to free vision care that can transform not only how they see the world, but also what they believe is possible for their future,” Lions World Vision Institute President and CEO Jason K. Woody says in the release.

The family’s vision initiative honors late patriarch Malcolm Glazer, who long credited his first pair of glasses with improving his ability to learn and succeed, the foundation’s website says. Malcolm Glazer, who died in 2014, was president and CEO of First Allied Corp., a real-estate holding company that owns and rents out shopping malls across the U.S. The Glazer’s purchased the Bucaneers in 1995 and, in 2005, completed a leveraged takeover of the English Premier League’s Manchester United soccer club. 

Established in 1999, the Glazer Family Foundation reports providing more than 200,000 free eye screenings and 25,000 pairs of prescription glasses to children throughout Tampa Bay. Its mobile clinic visits schools and community events and includes examination equipment and a prescription lens lab.