Christopher Rising has had a busy year. For starters, he took the reins at downtown-based Rising Realty Partners in January, succeeding his father, veteran developer Nelson Rising, as the company’s chief executive.
While Nelson Rising remains with Rising Realty as chairman and serves on the company’s investment committee, it’s Chris Rising who’s now setting the course for the business, which has roughly 5 million square feet of assets under management, including 2.7 million square feet downtown.
The company’s projects this year included renovating the Trust Building, a historic property at 433 S. Spring St. It was updated with a concierge, outdoor space and rooftop deck.
In addition to overseeing the Trust Building project, Chris Rising also guided the company’s first purchase of a property outside of Los Angeles. The group purchased the 22-story, roughly 600,000-square-foot Civic Center Plaza in Denver from Beacon Capital Partners and Callahan Capital Partners for an estimated $125 million. Rising partnered with BentallGreenOak on the acquisition.
That purchase emphasized Rising’s goal of expanding his company from a local operator to a regional player. Rising Realty is now focused on other cities in California, as well as Salt Lake City; Denver; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle. These areas, Rising said, have younger populations and a focus on conversationalist practices, which aligns with the kinds of projects he’s pursuing.
Rising has focused on adaptive reuse projects, for example, bringing new life into existing buildings rather than ground-up construction projects.
Prior to launching Rising Realty with his father in 2011, Rising held a range of positions in the real estate industry. He served as senior vice president of asset transactions at MPG Office Trust Inc. In 2003, he founded the Rising Real Estate Group, and he has also worked at Cushman Realty Corp. and Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
Rising is on the board of regents at Loyola High School and is treasurer and a board member of River LA. He also chairs the organization’s finance and fundraising committee.
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