Lennar Corp. is seeking to turn over redevelopment of the former El Toro Marine base in Irvine to a key executive going out on his own.
Emile Haddad, the Aliso Viejo-based chief investment officer of Miami? Lennar, is nearing a deal that would give him an ownership stake and control of redevelopment at El Toro and two other projects.
Haddad also would take over the bankrupt Newhall Ranch housing project in Los Angeles County and a Lennar project near San Francisco.
Under the plan, Haddad would leave his position at Lennar and start a new company?entatively named 5 Point Communities?hat would run the three projects.
The projects, now stalled amid the housing downturn, could hold close to 35,000 homes.
Plans for El Toro call for thousands of homes, commercial buildings as well as park space, museums and other public uses at the former Marine base that closed more than a decade ago.
Lennar now heads up a venture that paid $1 billion for the El Toro land in 2005. The homebuilder has invested about $83 million into the 3,700-acre property, according to company filings.
Lennar would have a 60% stake in 5 Point. Haddad, 5 Point? chief executive, would own the rest and have a controlling vote on operational matters.
Haddad would bring about a dozen Lennar employees from the homebuilder? Aliso Viejo regional headquarters.
Big names expected to move to 5 Point would include Bob Santos, previously the division president of Lennar for El Toro, and Tom Martin, a regional vice president.
The new company would be based in Aliso Viejo and operate from the same building that holds Lennar? local operations.
El Toro would keep its existing financial partners on board, including Lennar. Governance of the project would still be through an executive committee, but with Haddad’s 5 Point having the controlling vote on decisions.
Haddad handles Lennar? land acquisitions across the country and oversees its largest Orange County projects including those at El Toro and in Anaheim? Platinum Triangle.
For more on this story, see the May 18 edition of the Business Journal.
