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Irvine Co.: Barker Stepping Back, Gilchrist Moves Up; New Office President

The Irvine Company on Friday announced big changes to its investment properties group, which oversees the Newport Beach-based company’s office, retail, apartment and resort operations.

Clarence Barker, president of the investment properties group, is moving from his current position into an advisory role to Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren. The changes are set to take place in the next six months, the company said.

Barker, a 20-year veteran of the Irvine Co., will remain in charge of the company’s resort division, which includes the completion of Bren’s crown jewel, the Resort at Pelican Hill. He is making the change to focus more on personal interests, Bren said.

Rick Gilchrist, the former co-chief executive of Los Angeles-based landlord Maguire Properties Inc. who joined the Irvine Co. as president of its office properties division last year, will succeed Barker.

Val Wheeler, executive vice president of asset management for office properties, will move into Gilchrist’s role.

Wheeler joined the company in 2003. He previously worked for Equity Office Properties Trust and Beacon Capital Properties Corp. He will be the third head of the company’s office division in a little more than a year, after William Halford left to head up Newport Beach-based developer Bixby Land Co. last spring.

The Irvine Co.’s investment properties group oversees a portfolio that includes some 400 office buildings, 40 retail centers, 80 apartment communities and three golf clubs.

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Mark Mueller
Mark Mueller
Mark is the former Editor-in-Chief and current Community Editor of the Orange County Business Journal, one of the premier regional business newspapers in the country. He’s the fifth person to hold the editor’s position in the paper’s long history. He oversees a staff of about 15 people. The OCBJ is considered a must-read for area business executives. The print edition of the paper is the primary source of local news for most of the Business Journal’s subscribers, which includes most of OC’s major corporate and community players. Mark’s been with the paper since 2005, and long served as the real estate reporter for the paper, breaking hundreds of commercial and residential real estate stories. He took on the editor’s position in 2018.
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