Oasis founder has Boston ties

Airline collapse won't affect real estate firm

Raymond C. Lee runs a Boston real estate firm in addition to an airline. (BOBBY YIP/REUTERS/FILE 2007)

The Boston-based founder of Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, a long-distance budget carrier that abruptly ceased operations this week, said through a company official yesterday that those problems will not affect his two dozen Massachusetts real estate holdings.

"They are entirely different companies, completely distinct," said Ivan S. Chow, managing director of the real estate company Oasis Development Enterprises Inc., which is based in Boston. "They have the same founder."

Raymond C. Lee, who started Oasis Development in Lynn in 1995, is a Harvard University graduate and trustee of Gordon College in Wenham. He operates the company with his wife, Priscilla H. Lee, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

In 2006, Lee founded Hong Kong Oasis, to compete with Cathay Pacific Airways, and offered low-priced flights connecting to Vancouver and London, where there are large Asian populations. But blaming rising fuel prices, a lack of credit, and stiff competition, the Lees issued a statement announcing the closure of the airline on Wednesday.

"What saddened our hearts the most is that we are letting down the many precious passengers from Hong Kong and from around the world, the many co-workers and partners that we deeply love and cherish," they said in the statement.

The Lees' Massachusetts real estate company owns about two dozen properties, including the former Boston Stock Exchange, at 100 Franklin St., which they put up for sale last week; 10 Milk St. in Boston; and commercial buildings in Lynn, Danvers, Concord, Braintree, and Las Vegas.

"Their properties in this area, they've all done really well," said Marci Griffith Loeber, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield of Massachusetts Inc., which brokered the sale of many of these properties to Lee. For example, Lee's company purchased 100 Franklin St. in 2004 for $19.5 million, and it is on the market today for about $40 million.

The 10 Milk St. building will go on the market in the next month, Loeber said. "I was told the reason he was selling it is to redeploy capital," she said yesterday. She said she did not know if there was any connection to the airline's problems.

The South China Morning Post newspaper reported yesterday that Oasis Hong Kong was on the verge of being rescued by another airline when it was discovered that Lee, its chairman, had pledged his shares in the air carrier as collateral for a personal loan.

The paper quoted an unnamed source as saying the discovery was made during final stages of talks with HNA Group, parent company of Hainan Airlines, which had considered buying Oasis.

"You can say that he derailed the airline" takeover, the paper quoted the source as saying. It said Lee held about 60 percent of the company's shares.

But Chow, Lee's real estate director in Boston, said of the reported share pledge: "To my knowledge that did not occur. This is the first I've heard of that mentioned."

Chow said Lee was in Hong Kong and not available for interviews yesterday. He said the airline's problems "wouldn't have any negative impact at all" on the real estate business.

According to the Morning Post, about 30,000 ticket holders and 700 employees were affected when the airline shut down.

According to the company's website, Lee is founding director of the Gordon College East-West Institute and was vice president of the college's foundation, assistant professor of religious studies, and member of the president's cabinet.

No one at Gordon College could be reached for comment.

He graduated from Swarthmore College, has a master's in education from Harvard, and a theological degree from Gordon-Conwell, according to the website. He also serves as voluntary pastor of Faith Community Church in Hong Kong.

The website says his company is committed to "delivering excellent returns on investment while making a difference in the community." It has provided office space free or at reduced cost to the Gordon-In-Lynn Urban Community Programs, Covenant Christian Academy in Peabody, Campus Crusade for Christ in Boston, and The Food Project in Lynn.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.