The girls of Sacred Heart Academy adore Garden City developer Wilbur Breslin. On Valentine's Day, they sent him hundreds of cards. The girls have sent cards to Breslin in recent years as part of their attempt to win parking privileges on the empty lot. Now, he has given them something in return: a permanent place to park.

Breslin, who developed The Hub Shopping Center on the adjacent 23 acres in the Village of Hempstead with partners Fred Colin and Louis L. Ceruzzi Jr., donated the vacant one-acre lot next to the center to the private Catholic girls' high school. The lot is valued at about $1.5 million. The 850-student school, just a short distance away, is using the parcel for a much-needed parking lot for its students.

"He won the students' hearts through his generosity, and they in turn won his," Sacred Heart Principal Sister Jeanne Marie Ross CSJ said.

"Mr. Breslin, we can't even imagine what it must have been like to get 800 Valentines, but on behalf of the graduating Class of 2005, we cannot express how excited we are that all of our efforts paid off and that we now finally have a parking lot of our own," Lauren O'Leary of Garden City, a senior and Student Council vice president, said.

"It was the Valentine's cards every year that really did it," Breslin admitted. "I said, 'Let's do it. It isn't a big deal to us and it's a big deal to them.' "

At a recent ribbon cutting at the lot on the southwest corner of Fulton and Cathedral Avenues, 175 Sacred Heart Academy seniors, their parents and school officials lauded Breslin, president of Garden City-based Breslin Realty Development Corp., for his generosity. The event featured the parking lot festooned in the school's colors - red and gold - and procession of senior girls that included a 1961 Cadillac limousine and a 1956 Chevrolet.

"Mr.Breslin's generosity is symbolic of the heart-to-heart relationship he has had with the students over the years," O'Leary added. "His donation will benefit the school as a whole, and each student who comes here in the future. Mr. Breslin's kindness is a quiet challenge to others. He has certainly won our hearts, and he will get Valentine's Day cards each year from the students of Sacred Heart Academy."

Until St. Patrick's Day, when Sacred Heart Academy obtained title to the property, the girls, who travel to the school from throughout Nassau County, had to park their cars in front of homes along Cathedral Avenue, sometimes as distant as five blocks. On occasion, the girls might have found their cars ticketed or towed away for illegal parking.

"For years and years we have all dreamed of driving and since we were freshmen," senior Katie McManus of Port Washington, president of the school's Student Council, said. "The senior lot was something we could not wait to take advantage of."

With Breslin's permission, the girls had access to the lot immediately after Breslin demolished the former A&S store, but that ended in 2003, when most of the shopping center was sold to a New Jersey developer. No trespassing signs went up, school officials said. The girls then began a campaign of sending cards to the developer each Valentine's Day, seeking to regain their parking places.

The Hub, which Breslin began developing in 1998 on the site of the former Abraham & Straus department store, now is home to a Stop & Shop supermarket, Home Depot, Old Navy, Payless Shoe Source, Chase Manhattan Bank, Burger King and other retailers.

Seeking to obtain the site, parents and school officials began reaching out to Breslin about a year ago, which caused Breslin to explore recapturing the parcel from the new owner with the intention of donating the land to the school. But even as Breslin and his partners reached an agreement to turn over the land, many approvals needed to be obtained. Breslin gave the task to his director of leasing, Robert Delavale.

"There were many trials and tribulations," Breslin said. "You think you could do this in 10 minutes, but it took 10 months." Breslin also needed consents from the new owner's lender, from the HUB retailers and from the village. "The biggest feat was getting the mortgagor to release its collateral," Breslin added. In the end it was worth the effort, Breslin said. "It makes you feel good."

Parents involved in the parking lot campaign also were heartened by the donation. "The impact will be felt for decades by the school," Sacred Heart trustee Jim Riley of Garden City, who has three daughters attending the school, said. Money raised during a recent capital funds drive will be "used for developing minds rather than brick and mortar," he added.

Steven Vincent of Garden City, whose daughter attends Sacred Heart, added, "Not only does it add a valuable asset to Sacred Heart Academy and much-needed parking, it will allow the school to consider and explore other possible space innovations on its campus. Wilbur's gift accomplishes the virtue we have been trying to instill in our students - the act of doing something for others. Rather than maximizing profit on this valuable property, Wilbur committed a selfless and singular act of generosity."