The LSU Foundation is creating a new support foundation to facilitate real estate and other asset-related projects associated with LSU campuses located around the state.
The LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation, or REFF, will be a supporting organization of both the LSU Foundation and the university, and is being developed with LSU’s encouragement and active collaboration, says LSU Foundation President and CEO Stephen Moret.
The LSU Foundation will staff and administer the REFF, and Moret will serve as its executive director. He credits LSU Chancellor and President F. King Alexander, Chief Financial Officer Dan Layzell and Tony Lombardo, executive director of facilities services, with conceiving the idea.
“We’ve been collaborating to bring this to life for several months now,” Moret says. “This has the potential to yield a wide variety of benefits for LSU campuses and students statewide.”
The Nicholson Gateway Project, a mixed-use project currently under development through a public-private partnership arrangement just outside the South Gates of campus, is an example of the type of projects in which the REFF will engage. Other possibilities include: central utility plant development; student housing development; auxiliary project construction; leasing, facility and property management; and real estate acquisition and development.
“This is a way to leverage LSU’s many assets around the state,” Moret says. “This is a way to create value for the university … without LSU having to pay for it.”
Moret likens the REFF to Commercial Property Realty Trust, the real estate company that develops and manages property in support of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. One difference, however, is that the REFF projects will likely be associated with existing LSU assets or land contiguous to existing LSU property across Louisiana.
“Also, I anticipate that REFF projects likely all will be designed to directly or indirectly enhance student learning or other primary missions of LSU, such as research or public service,” he says. “Nevertheless, we are taking some inspiration from CPRT.”
The REFF is not to be confused with the LSU Property Foundation, an arm of the LSU Foundation that was created in 1995 to facilitate construction projects and accept real estate donations for the benefit of the flagship campus. The LSU Property Foundation was chartered to focus on the flagship campus, whereas the REFF will conduct projects on LSU property across the state. Also, the REFF will specifically focus on developing public-private partnerships, Moret says.
Executives with the LSU Foundation are currently finalizing the paperwork necessary to create the REFF. Moret expects to unveil the organization’s first project some time this fall.
—Stephanie Riegel
