2022 Spring Issue - 41

INSIDE THE uli foundation
California Developer
Randall Lewis Makes
Historic $10 Million Gift
Philanthropic effort will help
build stronger communities
and drive research in
critical area.
For years, Randall Lewis has been
involved in the effort to make
buildings healthier places for
people to live and work in. But
the California real estate
developer's decision to make
a historic $10 million donation
to ULI in January resulted from
his realization that to improve
public health, other pressing
environmental problems must be
addressed at the same time.
As Lewis sees it, improving wellness
in the urban environment
goes hand in hand with boosting
resilience in the face of climate
change and reducing the carbon
emissions that are driving it.
" It's the synergy between public
health and dealing with climate
change that was a motivator to
me, " says Lewis, a longtime ULI
Key Leader and ULI Foundation
Marcus Vitruvius Society member.
" People don't always think about
climate change's effect upon
health-everything from heat stroke
to the danger to the food supply-
and you have solutions that can
work together. " Even something as
simple as planting more trees, for
" The gift is a way to help
change the world and
minimize its obvious
problems. But there's also a
selfish reason: I want to keep
learning about things. "
-Randall Lewis
example, can help absorb carbon
emissions while providing cleaner,
healthier air for urban residents
to breathe.
In honor of the donation,
the largest single gift in ULI's
86-year history, the organization
has changed the name of the
ULI Center for Sustainability and
Economic Performance to the ULI
Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability
in Real Estate. The center,
which focuses on creating healthy,
resilient, and high-performance
communities around the world,
houses ULI's Building Healthy
Places Initiative, an effort that Lewis
has long supported, as well as the
Urban Resilience program and the
Greenprint Center for Building
Performance.
For Lewis-an executive vice
Randall Lewis, executive vice president and principal of Lewis
Management Corp.
president and principal of the Lewis
Management Corp., a southern California-based
developer that has
played a major role in the growth of
the Inland Empire area east of Los
Angeles-the center that bears his
name provides a way to coalesce
research and expertise in different
areas and direct them toward a
common goal. At the same time,
it is a learning opportunity for the
veteran of more than four decades
in the real estate business, who
relishes the opportunity to gain
knowledge about and solutions
from ULI experts on the environmental
and health issues facing
the industry.
" The gift is a way to help change
the world and minimize its obvious
problems, " Lewis says. " But
there's also a selfish reason:
I want to keep learning about
things. " Already well versed in
building health places, he's eager
to develop expertise in urban resilience
and decarbonization as well.
Family Business Sets the
Stage
Lewis grew up in Claremont, a
city nestled along the San Gabriel
Mountains on the eastern edge
of Los Angeles County. He is the
youngest of the four offspring of
accountant and attorney Ralph
Milton Lewis and his wife Goldy,
who started their own small
residential development business,
Lewis Homes, in 1955.
The Lewis family business gradually
became a major force in San
Bernardino and Riverside counties,
building thousands of homes
and developing projects such as
the 1,350-acre (550 ha) Terra Vista
mixed-use, master-planned community
in Rancho Cucamonga. The
family operation branched into
shopping centers, industrial development,
and owning and managing
apartments. (In 1999, the Lewis
Group sold its homebuilding division
to focus on its other lines of
business but continued to develop
master-planned communities.)
SPRING 2022
URBAN LAND
41
2022 Spring Issue

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