$117 Million Gift of Cash and Land Could Reap Billions for U. of Hawaii

Commercial real-estate developer Jay Shidler gave about $117 million to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, university officials announced Wednesday. The donation will go toward the ongoing expansion of the Shidler College of Business and pay for various programs in the coming years.

The contribution includes an unspecified amount of cash, along with real-estate ground leases. University officials said in statement that the properties could end up bringing the university billions of dollars over the coming decades.

The real-estate portion of the gift includes land on which 11 office buildings sit in business districts across the country.

Mr. Shidler stipulated that the university won’t be allowed to sell the ground leases before the end of a 99-year term agreement so that the properties will generate cash for the university. The university will receive full ownership of the properties after the 99 years are up.

Mr. Shidler graduated from the university in 1968 and has credited the institution with providing a path to business success and for giving him a sense of place and stability he hadn’t known before.

“I’m the first person in my immediate family to receive a college degree, so my being a University of Hawaii grad was a big deal for my mom and dad,” said Mr. Shidler in a news release. “As an Army brat, my four years a UH were the longest I’d lived anywhere. That stability made the experience significant.”

This isn’t Mr. Shidler’s first donation to his alma mater. He gave the business school $31 million about 11 years ago and $69.1 million in 2014, landing the No. 32 spot on the Philanthropy 50, The Chronicle’s annual report on the most generous Americans.