But instead of developing it or selling it, Bob Atack and his partner, Bill Johnson, gave it away this month.

"It is a great piece of real estate that would have tremendous commercial opportunities, but we determined that we would have to probably wait for a couple of years to develop it," said Atack of Atack Properties Inc., whose resume includes parts of Innsbrook, Ashcreek in Hanover County and Magnolia Ridge and CrossRidge in Henrico.

"Later we decided we had enough other transactions in that area. So we decided it was an opportunity to make a charitable contribution of the property, and we wanted to do something unique."

The Richmond Strikers Soccer Club was the recipient. The club, a nonprofit recreational and travel/competitive-level youth soccer league, has been in business for 27 years. It has about 3,500 youths ages 4 to 18 on teams.

"I have wanted land for five years, and Bob made it happen. It is a tremendous opportunity and we are very thankful," said Jim Renehan, the Strikers' executive director.

The club plays and practices at Striker Park on Pouncey Tract Road (a site it has owned since the mid-1980s), Deep Run Park, about 10 other fields in Henrico and on fields in Goochland County.

"It will be nice to have a dozen fields in one spot instead of all over the city. This will also give us another venue for our tournaments," Renehan said.

In choosing a recipient, Atack and Johnson were very specific about how the land should be used.

"We wanted it used in a manner that would provide a perpetual passive use," Atack said. "We came very, very close to giving it to a nature conservatory. It met all our criteria except one thing - it would never get used. It seemed like it was fate that the Richmond Strikers - who have such a great need for such a fantastic use, youth soccer - evolved at the eleventh hour."

Atack and Johnson also wanted a restriction on the property in case the new owners wanted to sell it.

"The Richmond Strikers . . . understood our conditions that though they could sell the property, whoever owns it cannot build any commercial, residential or housing on the property," Atack said.

Atack and Renehan had never met before they came together over the land donation.

"It was a coincidental connection," said Atack, who had spent the past year working with lawyers and accountants with expertise in charitable contributions to help them identify candidates and to make sure that the contribution could be categorized as a tax advantage for his company.

"I did not know Bob," said Renehan, who said someone told him Atack was trying to give some land away. The person put him in touch with Atack, and they soon made a deal.

Plans for the property include about 15 soccer fields, parking and a field maintenance outbuilding.

Renehan says it will cost about $5 million to design, grade and irrigate the complex, pave parking lots and construct the small outbuilding. He says the Strikers will initiate a capital campaign to raise the money to develop it, and he hopes to have the kids playing on the new fields in the next couple of years.

"We were one of the first services in the far west end of Richmond, and the community grew up around us," Renehan said. "We hope to take that experience and bring it to eastern Henrico and become an important part of that community and open up the Strikers and soccer facilities in general to more people, whether it is competitive or recreational."

Deborah Rider Allen is a staff writer with the Richmond Times Dispatch.