Nelson Rising, Prominent California Developer, Dies At 81

Real estate developer and civic fixture Nelson Rising has died at 81. 

Rising's family confirmed he died at his Pasadena, California, home on Thursday from conditions stemming from Alzheimer's. 

“From Mission Bay to projects that helped revitalize Downtown Los Angeles, Nelson Rising spearheaded iconic developments that transformed neighborhoods across California,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

“Nelson cared deeply about California and Californians, and his dynamic leadership and problem-solving brought together stakeholders from across the board to accomplish monumental feats.”  

In his career of more than five decades at multiple companies, Rising spearheaded projects including the construction of Downtown Los Angeles' U.S. Bank Tower, then called the Library Tower; the creation of Playa Vista, a Westside neighborhood that rose to prominence as a hub for tech and media companies including Google and Facebook; and the development of the massive San Francisco mixed-use project Mission Bay, which replaced a brownfield and former rail yard near the city's downtown. 

“Everyone knew, when a deal got complicated or difficult, they had to go to Nelson,” Cushman & Wakefield Global Transactions Chairman John Cushman said in a statement.

Rising's career also included politics and civic involvement. His most visible political role was his position as campaign chairman for the mayoral candidacies of Tom Bradley in the 1970s as well as his gubernatorial run in 1982. He also had a hand in bringing the 1984 Olympics to Los Angeles.

Rising was born in New York but grew up in the Los Angeles area. He attended the University of California - Los Angeles on a football scholarship and later graduated from the university's law school. He went on to serve as a top executive at Maguire Thomas Partners, where he oversaw the building of what is now the U.S Bank Tower and outlining Playa Vista; and at Catellus Development, where he helmed the Mission Bay project. 

“The consistent theme was his ability to deal with both the public and private sectors, to understand all sides of an issue but to be focused on getting things done,” Related California CEO Bill Witte told the Los Angeles Times. “I think no one was ultimately better at getting all of those things done than Nelson.”

In 2011, he founded Rising Realty Partners with his son, Christopher Rising. Today, Rising Realty Partners owns or manages more than 5M SF in California, Colorado, Nevada, Missouri and Texas. Rising was chairman emeritus at the firm at the time of his death. 

Rising is survived by his wife, Sharon, their two sons, daughter-in-law, three grandchildren and his sister.