2023 Winter Issue - 25

INSIDE THE uli foundation
Ron and Mary Nahas
Donate $1 Million
to ULI for UrbanPlan
ULI Foundation governor Ron Nahas
and his wife Mary Nahas have
donated $1 million to UrbanPlan,
an interactive educational program
that engages high school students,
university students, and public
officials in understanding the forces
shaping real estate development.
UrbanPlan organizes students
into development teams to respond
to a " request for proposals " for the
redevelopment of a multiblock site
suffering from disinvestment and
urban blight. Industry professionals
volunteer as facilitators to guide
students as they prepare a vision,
site plan, marketing plan, and pro
forma to pitch to a " city council "
composed of other industry professionals.
UrbanPlan is typically
delivered over the course of three
to four weeks to students and as a
one-day workshop for public officials
and community members.
Nahas, a partner in the real
estate development firm of
Rafanelli and Nahas in Lafayette,
California, says he intends for his
gift to help ensure the program's
future. " Our objective is to deliver
UrbanPlan to thousands of high
school students every year, " he
says. " That requires effort at both
the district council level and the
national ULI level. The key is to
grow and improve it in a way that
makes it sustainable while protecting
the quality of the outcome. "
He notes that his father, Robert
Nahas, served twice as president
of ULI and led the establishment
of the ULI Foundation in 1970
for similar reasons. " He felt very
strongly that it was critical to have
resources, in the form of a foundation,
to support the research and
the education and the independence
of the organization, " Nahas
says. " Real estate is a cyclical business,
and revenue from programs
is variable. "
Cofounded in the early 2000s at
ULI San Francisco by Nahas and ULI
governors Doug Abbey and Steve
Chamberlin, UrbanPlan was jointly
developed by ULI; the Fisher Center
for Real Estate and Urban Economics
at the University of California,
Berkeley; and a group of Bay
Area teachers. Since its creation,
UrbanPlan has reached more than
65,000 high school students in
North America and has expanded
to Europe and Asia as well.
The gift will help the program
continue to extend its reach. " Right
now, we're working with an incredibly
dedicated group of district
councils, " says Sophie Lambert,
vice president for UrbanPlan. " A lot
of them would like to grow their
programs, and many want to reach
underserved schools. Ultimately,
we want to bring the program to
more district councils. "
In 2020, the program evolved
in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
by investing in an online
platform for remote teaching, which
also enabled the fulfillment of a
longtime dream.
" We've always had the idea of
bringing together high school students
from across the country to do
UrbanPlan together, " Lambert says.
" The pandemic experience showed
us that we could do this virtually. "
Now in its third year, the UrbanPlan
National Student Competition has
teams compete against each other
for a second time outside the classroom
setting.
A longtime mentor and organizer
of Hawaii's UrbanPlan program, Jon
Wallenstrom has seen one of the
state's teams, Iolani School, win
the competition two years in a row.
" UrbanPlan is a wonderful way
for ULI members to give back, and
it's an opportunity to engage with
smart young people and create a
society that's more civic-minded, "
says Wallenstrom, principal of
Alaka'i Development in Honolulu.
" It's empowering young people
to engage in their communities in
a way that's constructive. Many
students have come up to me and
said, 'I didn't know what I wanted
to do in college, and now I'm going
to enroll in something that would
lead to a career in the built environment.'
But what is most important
is that they all feel able to engage
in real issues in a civil manner. "
Another longtime volunteer, Tyler
Higgins, chair of the Institute's
Annual Fund and a member of
the board of the ULI Foundation,
agrees. " It is a great way to recruit
youth to our industry, " he says.
" I have served UrbanPlan as a
volunteer in the classroom and as
a city council member, and have
always been impressed with how
the program works and the enthusiasm
the students have to learn.
It truly works. On two occasions, I
have joined Ron Nahas's matching
gift pledge to support UrbanPlan's
growth nationally within other district
councils. Ron's support of the
ULI Foundation governor Ron
Nahas and his wife Mary Nahas
have donated $1 million to
UrbanPlan.
UrbanPlan is heroic, and I share his
passion to make it a hallmark of
ULI's success. "
ULI is aiming to raise another
$1 million to match Nahas's gift.
Institute members are encouraged
to volunteer for UrbanPlan or
donate to the ULI Annual Fund and
designate a gift.
" The first time I met Ron, I
learned UrbanPlan for him is not
just about teaching the next generation
about the real estate industry, "
Higgins says. " It's also about
teaching civic engagement, that
we are all participants in our communities.
Ron's gift opens minds
beyond our industry. " UL
RON NYREN is a freelance architecture,
urban planning, and real estate writer based in
the San Francisco Bay area.
WINTER 2023
URBAN LAND
23
COURTESY RON NAHAS
2023 Winter Issue

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