SAN DIEGO -- A $30 million donation to San Diego's stem cell consortium will be announced Tuesday.

Banker-turned-philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, 72, said the money was for "novel scientific developments that ultimately help patients with limited or no treatment options today."

The gift will help build the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, a four-story building on North Torrey Pines Road where consortium members can work side-by-side.

The consortium also will get a $43 million facilities grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The member organizations are the Burnham Institute, UC San Diego, the Salk Institute and the Scripps Research Institute.

"The fact that Denny Sanford chose to make such a substantial donation to the Sanford Consortium speaks volumes about the quality research that scientists from our four member institutions bring to the table," said Dr. Edward Holmes, Sanford Consortium President and CEO. "This facility will allow for faster and smarter research to take place by providing a venue for collaboration."

Sanford was No. 135 on last year's Forbes magazine richest Americans list, with an estimated worth of $2.8 billion. He owned a technical-equipment company before buying a small bank in South Dakota and later branching out to off credit cards to people with bad credit.