Randall Lewis, an executive vice president and principal of Lewis Management Corp., donated $10 million to the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the largest single donation in the organization’s 86-year history, to fund ULI’s efforts to make the built environment more sustainable.
To honor the contribution, ULI has renamed the former Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate. The center focuses on creating healthy, resilient, and high-performance communities and houses ULI’s Building Healthy Places Initiative, the Urban Resilience program, and the Greenprint Center for Building Performance.
“Synergy between the three parts of the center is important to me,” says Lewis. “Public health and climate action are very closely related, and many of the solutions will be linked as well. The gift is a way for me to make a personal impact upon one of the world’s most pressing problems and transform millions of lives, and I urge other real estate executives to consider supporting ULI’s far-reaching work.”
ULI Global CEO Ed Walter says the donation will provide near-term resources to accelerate ULI’s work on climate adaptation and mitigation while the organization continues its work to build healthy communities.
Lewis is a longtime ULI member as well as a governor of the ULI Foundation. The executive supports the ULI/Randall Lewis Health Mentorship Program, which pairs graduate students with ULI members to help enhance their understanding of opportunities to advance health through careers in the land use industry. Lewis has previously donated $1 million in support of the ULI Building Healthy Places Initiative, which focuses on shaping projects and places to improve the health of people and communities.
The donation from Lewis is largely unrestricted, allowing ULI flexibility in funding sustainability programs to meet future needs in “a rapidly changing environment,” according to the organization.
“With this funding, we can tackle the most pressing sustainability challenges in our industry as they arise, helping our members understand the challenges and develop solutions they can apply in their organizations,” says Billy Grayson, executive vice president for centers and initiatives at ULI.
Lewis’ firm, Southern California-based Lewis Management Corp., is a developer of master plan communities, shopping centers, apartment complexes, and industrial and residential projects in California and Nevada. The group has built 58,000 homes, developed 24 million square feet of retail, office, and industrial space, and currently owns and manages 11,000 apartments.
The Urban Land Institute, established in 1936, is a nonprofit education and research institute focused on shaping the future of the built environment.
