Residential’s Chace friend to arts

Elizabeth Z. Chace, co-founder/co-owner of Residential Properties, was recently named the 2016 recipient of the Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts at Trinity Repertory Company’s 2016 Pell Awards.

You have led two careers, one in real estate and one working with foundations and nonprofits. How has the relationship between these two disciplines influenced your work?

Both of these careers depend upon a good relationship with the people you are working with. In real estate it is your customer; in the nonprofit world it is your relationship with a particular agency. My business background has helped me guide my customers in the real estate world. This background also helped me guide the agencies as we worked out their needs.

Can you speak on the growth of Residential Properties from six brokers and a single office to a firm employing more than 150 brokers with multiple offices around the state? How was this accomplished?

- Advertisement -

In the beginning my partner, Sally Lapides, and I both worked long and hard getting listings, selling properties and all along training new salespeople. This is a business where you learn while on the job. We had many wonderful salespeople who were willing to learn and then go off and recruit one’s full-time commitment. As we worked building our sales force our business grew; it was sort of like a tower of blocks.

Why is it important to you to devote time and resources to nonprofits and community organizations?

I have been very fortunate and feel it is important to give back to my community. In my mind this is not about money: My time and guidance to the many agencies I have worked with [are] just as important. Doing this, I have touched many lives and have gotten a great deal of satisfaction from this work.

What are some of the ways you have served Trinity Rep?

My husband, Malcolm, and I co-chaired the theater’s capital campaign in the late 1990s that raised over $20 million and resulted in the acquisition and renovation of the Citizens Bank building, now named the Pell Chafee Performance Center. I served on the board from 2000-06 and have remained active, serving as a campaign chair, hosting fundraising events and supporting and advocating for the theater. •

No posts to display