Dave Matthews has completed a $5.3 million deal to buy 1,261 of the 7,379 acres that billionaire John W. Kluge donated to the University of Virginia Foundation.
The musician's manager, Coran Capshaw, said in a news release that Matthews plans to preserve agriculture and forest lands on the five farms he purchased and to emphasize organic farming.
The lead singer of the Dave Matthews Band also has started the process of placing an open-space easement on the farms, Capshaw said. The easements preserve some degree of open space and limit a property's development rights.