Two donors have given $13 million toward the creation of an institute for real estate at Chapman University, the school said Wednesday.
The private school and the University of California, Irvine, have been separately raising money to create undergraduate and graduate programs in real estate for the first time in the county. The public university has raised $1.5 million.
Roger Hobbs, a real estate investor, has donated $10 million to Chapman. The private university in Orange named the new endeavor the Roger C. Hobbs Institute for Real Estate, Law and Environmental Studies.
“The Institute will bring to bear numerous elements that make Orange County, California, the perfect location to base an academic and research offering that will approach the business, science and legal aspects of real estate with unprecedented sophistication,” Chapman said in a statement.
The institute is set to draw from three existing schools: the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics, the School of Law and Wilkinson College of Letters and Sciences.
It’s set to offer legal and environmental studies as well as business courses.
Hobbs is set to be the executive director of the institute. He also is president of Orange-based R.C. Hobbs Co.
He was the founding chairman of California City Bank NA, and former President of Birtcher-Hobbs Communities, according to a Web site of the Community Foundation of Orange.
Helen Hoag gave $3 million to establish the C. Larry Hoag Center for Real Estate and Finance. The late Hoag was a real estate entrepreneur from Downey. The Hoags are distinct from the benefactors of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach.
As for UCI, earlier this month it announced the hiring of Kerry Vandell, who headed a top real estate program at the University of Wisconsin/Madison, as the executive director of the recently launched Center for Real Estate.
