PALM BEACH, FL—A prime, 10-acre parcel of land in Palm Beach Gardens, FL has traded hands. And brokers say it's more proof that a learning cluster is taking shape in Palm Beach County.

NAI/Merin Hunter Codman brokered the land sale to Education Capital Solutions (ECS), which plans to build a public charter school on the site. ECS is a wholly owned subsidiary of the $3 billion specialty REIT, EPR Properties—formerly Entertainment Properties Trust.

As part of its core portfolio, EPR has a focus on financing and developing public charter schools with investments nationwide. This latest Palm Beach Gardens charter school investment has particular significance for Florida communities, according to NAI/Merin.

That's bcause it is part of a growing “learning cluster” in Palm Beach that includes nearby Florida Atlantic University—the campus site of Scripps Research and Max Planck Florida Institutes—as well as Palm Beach State College, the newly opened Mandel JCC early childhood learning center, and the college preparatory campuses of The Benjamin School. Taken together, it's a compelling South Florida learning nexus.

“The educational capital investments we're seeing in Palm Beach County are paving the way for the intellectual capital of the future,” says Neil E. Merin, chairman of NAI/Merin, who represented the seller in the land sale transaction. “There is a learning cluster evolving, and we expect it to result in a deep and highly qualified labor pool that will continue to attract world-class companies in the life and health sciences, as well as other burgeoning industries.”

The 10 parcel is located in Palm Beach Gardens at 5643 Hood Road. Construction of the charter school, which will accommodate about 1,600 students, is expected to begin in early 2014 with completion in about two years.

The school site is about 100 yards from the 15-acre Mandel JCC early learning school campus at 5221 Hood Road, which is celebrating its grand opening this coming week and is a project of the Jewish Community Center of the Palm Beaches. Hood Road, where both the ECS and Mandel sites are located, is the main east-west road between Donald Ross Road—where FAU, Scripps and Planck are situated—and PGA Boulevard, on which Palm Beach State College is located.

The ECS land site was formerly home to six agricultural and residential parcels. Those 9.84 acres changed hands for $3.23 million in the land sale. The seller was Batt Private School Inc.

“We are seeing a resurgence of interest for commercially zoned properties in northern Palm Beach County,” says Jordan C. Paul, CEO of NAI/Merin. “Growth in new schools is indicative of an upswing in the broader real estate cycle, since schools are tied to residential sales, and in turn, to retail and office use.”