It doesn’t end with his $10 million gift. Roger Hobbs also will run the new Chapman U institute for real estate, law and environmental studies that bears his name. And why not? He’s an exec, he’s taught at UCI, Cal State Fullerton, U of Montana and Chapman, and he’s a lesson in timing. Hobbs had done very well in homebuilding (including a venture with Brandy Birtcher and a hand in developing PGA West) by 1995, when the SoCal market had dried up and he was hankering for his 6,000-acre cattle ranch. Hobbs says he consulted mentors such as Tony Moiso, George Argyros and former U.S. Sen. John Seymour and they all agreed,if you can afford to move the family to Montana, do it. By 2000, OC real estate was back and Hobbs, wife Kathy and their three boys returned to his hometown of Orange (Cowan Heights). The five-year sabbatical from the local scene may explain why, despite his having sold, developed and managed nearly $1 billion worth of properties in 30 years, nearly anyone who isn’t a real estate insider wondered last week, “Who’s Roger Hobbs?” They’ll likely find out. The vigorous, square-jawed Hobbs, a daily jogger, wants to put Chapman on the real estate map in a big way: “This transforms one of my dreams into reality…
When I was in school, studying real estate was not an option” …
Anaheim loyalists are irked that the Angels are selling shirts that feature what appears to be the Los Angeles skyline. Witty Sandi Cain suggests no, that’s the future Platinum Triangle skyline …
Last week the Insider noted that many Vietnamese-Americans live on the Gulf Coast. OC Rescue Mission’s Jim Palmer reports that about half of the 113 Hurricane Katrina families helped by “OperationOC” are Vietnamese. He says they’re coming to the county because it’s a center for Vietnamese-Americans and many of them lived here previously …
After years of being stuck at the $4 billion level, Donald Bren has received a 33% raise from Forbes, which now estimates his wealth at $5.7 billion. That’s more than double Donald Trump or any other American primarily engaged in real estate, but still well below our own (and we think conservative) estimate of $8 billion …
Aging upstarts: OC Weekly has turned 10, and it’s now 15 years at the OCBJ for P RR and EE RR …
Michael Johnston of Smith Barney, Irvine, and Jeff Saccacio of Citigroup, Costa Mesa, made Robb Report Worth’s list of Top 100 Wealth Advisors …
Judge Jamie: Jamie Morris (Mrs. Todd) Spitzer became an administrative law judge earlier this year …
Slice of Orange: A business card on the windshield from Handyman Rob, in English and Arabic …
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers gets the Nixon Library’s 2005 Architect of Peace award at a black-tie dinner Nov. 3. Call (714) 993-3393, ext. 240.
