{"id":148811,"date":"2021-09-28T12:08:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T22:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=148811"},"modified":"2023-07-25T10:25:49","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T20:25:49","slug":"wackers-commitment-to-rise-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/09\/28\/wackers-commitment-to-rise-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Wackers give $250,000 to 东精影业<\/abbr> RISE<\/abbr> project as demolition begins"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"two
Rich and Eileen Wacker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former bank president Rich Wacker and his wife, Eileen, have committed a $250,000 gift to the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Foundation<\/a> in support of the 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE<\/abbr>) project, a world-class innovation and entrepreneurship facility coupled with student housing on the site of the former Atherton YMCA<\/abbr> across from the flagship campus.<\/p>\n

\"Atherton
Atherton building rendering<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The live-learn-work community at RISE<\/abbr> will be operated by the 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Shidler College of Business<\/a> Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship<\/a> (PACE<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

“We think this project is a clear demonstrative statement by the university of its commitment to entrepreneurship, innovation and diversifying the economy of Hawaiʻi<\/span> for our kids and for the community,” said Rich Wacker, chair of the 东精影业<\/abbr> Foundation Board of Trustees. “The unique thing about this is the live, work, study aspect of it—it\u2019s unique among universities across the country.”<\/p>\n

Rich Wacker is also a current member and former chair of the PACE<\/abbr> board of directors and vice chair of the Hawaii Pacific Health board of directors. He served as president and CEO<\/abbr> of American Savings Bank for more than 10 years, and past president of the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Bankers Association. He is a past chair and current innovation chair of the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Business Roundtable and the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Executive Collaborative\u2019s CHANGE<\/abbr> innovation economy chair.<\/p>\n

Eileen Wacker is an author of a series of children\u2019s books, and founder of ONCEKids<\/abbr>, a children\u2019s literacy project. She is a member of the board of the Kapiʻolani<\/span> Health Foundation for the Kapiʻolani<\/span> Medical Center for Women and Children and a former board member at Assets School in Honolulu. The Wackers are parents of four children, the youngest of whom just started college this fall.<\/p>\n

Read more about the 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa RISE<\/abbr> center.<\/a>
To apply, visit the RISE website<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Our main passion is for the next generation of people in Hawaiʻi<\/span> to think differently in a more interdisciplinary way and to be trained for the uncertainty that we’re all going to face in the business environment,” Eileen Wacker said. “We think of it not as a donation but an investment because it’s what we would want our kids to have.”<\/p>\n

The Wackers\u2019 gift is the one of the largest individual gifts toward PACE<\/abbr>\u2019s goal of raising $3 million to fund the RISE<\/abbr> center\u2019s furnishings, fixtures and equipment along with operational programs and student scholarships over the first 10 years.<\/p>\n

“Mahalo to Rich and Eileen for this generous personal commitment that reflects their dedication to giving back to the Hawaiʻi<\/span> community,” said Tim Dolan<\/strong>, CEO<\/abbr> of the 东精影业<\/abbr> Foundation and 东精影业<\/abbr> vice president of advancement. “We are grateful for their forward-thinking philanthropy and investment not only in 东精影业<\/abbr> students, but in Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s innovation economy of the future.”<\/p>\n

\"building
Exterior demolition began on September 28<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Exterior demolition of the existing Mary Atherton Richards House at the corner of University and Seaview avenues began Tuesday, September 28, and is scheduled to be completed in November. Interior demolition of the historic pink Charles Atherton House and its additional wings will follow.<\/p>\n

Groundbreaking on the new six-story modern building, which will wrap behind the Charles Atherton House, is scheduled for January. When completed in 2023, RISE<\/abbr> will have 7,263 square feet of multi-purpose co-working, meeting, lab and classroom space, as well as 374 dormitory beds for undergraduate and graduate students.<\/p>\n

The $70 million project is being developed by a public-private partnership between 东精影业<\/abbr>, Hunt Development Group and the 东精影业<\/abbr> Foundation, which purchased the one-acre site on University Avenue in 2017 for $8 million. The tax-free bond financing will be repaid using dormitory fees; no taxpayer funds are being used for the project.<\/p>\n

Moss is the general contractor on the project, The Wilhelm Group is the construction manager and Design Partners Inc. is the lead architect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The RISE<\/abbr> project is a world-class innovation and entrepreneurship facility coupled with student housing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[425,1593,146,319,9],"class_list":["post-148811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-pacific-asian-center-for-entrepreneurship","tag-rise","tag-shidler-college-of-business","tag-uh-foundation","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148811"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180822,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148811\/revisions\/180822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}