The Duarte-based health system’s new campus in Irvine offers a unique opportunity to help “accelerate cures for cancer” and “advance quality in healthcare for the diverse population that it serves,” Jon Jaffe, co-chief executive and the top local official of Miami-based Lennar (NYSE: LEN), told the Business Journal.
The charitable donation is the largest in Orange County in over a year, and is among the largest corporate gifts the county has ever seen.
It’s also the biggest single contribution to City of Hope’s forthcoming comprehensive cancer center at Irvine’s Great Park Neighborhoods, which is under construction at a 190,000-square-feet office at 15161 Alton Parkway in Irvine.
“We’re on fire about making sure the cancer center opens in 2022,” Annette Walker, president of City of Hope OC, told the Business Journal.
The gift meets City of Hope’s urgent mission with “great speed.” The sheer “magnitude” of the gift will spur “impact that will be felt for years and years to come,” Walker said.
The comprehensive cancer center is part of a previously announced $1 billion investment in the region undertaken by City of Hope in conjunction with real estate developer FivePoint Holdings LLC (NYSE: FPH), which counts close ties to Lennar.
“If we can set an example to encourage others to join in this collaboration, Orange County has a real chance of being one of the great places in the world in terms of innovation, life sciences and healthcare,” Emile Haddad, chief executive of FivePoint, told the Business Journal.
Local Ties
Lennar, which became the largest homebuilder in the country following its 2018 purchase of Irvine’s CalAtlantic Group, has maintained a West Coast hub of operations in OC since 1995 and Jaffe has led the company’s push in the state over that time.
Much of the $31 billion-valued company’s operations are run out of its Irvine offices at the FivePoint Gateway campus that is also home to the new cancer center campus.
Jaffe and Haddad, previously Lennar’s chief investment officer, cemented the homebuilder’s presence in OC by leading the acquisition of the former El Toro Marine base in 2005; the duo were the Business Journal’s Businesspeople of the Year for their work on the 3,700-acre land deal in Irvine.
Haddad started FivePoint in 2009 and now oversees the Irvine development and other large mega-projects in the state. Lennar remains an investor in FivePoint and the Great Park Neighborhoods. The company is among the most active builder at the Irvine project.
Jaffe has served on the board of FivePoint, which sold the Alton Parkway office and excess land in Irvine to City of Hope last year.
Community Focus
Lennar’s commitment to Orange County parallels its dedication to cancer-focused philanthropy. It has supported City of Hope for over 20 years. Jaffe, a member of City of Hope’s Construction Industries Alliance Leadership Advisory Council, received its highest honor, The Spirit of Life Award, in 2004.
Lennar’s gift is a reflection of the company’s belief that “we hold in high regard giving back to the community we’re able to make our careers in, our living in,” Jaffe said.
While the Lennar Foundation’s name will adorn the comprehensive cancer center, Jaffe stressed the organization isn’t seeking name recognition. It believes “it’s important that the news of the gift [and its] size is out there to encourage others to give.”
The gift will include a research collaborative between City of Hope and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami. Lennar provided an equivalent $50 million gift to the University of Miami in 2014.
Jaffe said that $1,000 from every home sale that Lennar makes now goes to the company’s foundation.
Services, Synergies
City of Hope is “on schedule and on budget” to open its comprehensive cancer center next August and bring whole-person and whole-family care to Orange County, Walker said.
The facility will provide diagnostics imaging and screenings, precision medicine, advanced treatment options, access to clinical trials, and personalized support services, among other features. It will be joined by an adjacent specialty hospital, which is being built from the ground up, and is scheduled to open by 2025.
City of Hope opened its first outpatient treatment facility in Newport Beach last year, with plans to add more in the region as it builds out its network. It’s also been involved in a number of community partnerships, most recently through a street arts initiative to spread a message of hope at vaccine sites and community hubs in OC.
“All this comes back to the patient,” Walker said. “That’s what all this activity, energy, and support is for. We’re coming back to patients in our community.”
It’s a message and purpose that resonates with Lennar, according to Jaffe, who recalled meeting the wife of a former City of Hope cancer patient years ago. The woman shared with Jaffe the incredible level of empathy she received from City of Hope’s staff and employees, down to the valet parking attendant, he said.
“That struck home with me. You know that an organization’s culture is real when it goes to that level,” he said.
Bigger Picture
City of Hope and FivePoint said they are just getting started.
“The big thing for us is City of Hope came and said ‘we’re a believer in this vision,’” Haddad said, alluding to plans for the Great Park Neighborhoods that has been some 15 years in the making.
“Others are now following City of Hope, and that’s going to start creating a change over here.”
FivePoint owns land on the opposite side of Alton Parkway as the City of Hope campus that’s also envisioned for healthcare-focused commercial development. Additional land could also be converted into similar uses going forward.
“As we look at the world going forward, the way we’re going to be able to compete globally, or beat cancer, or tackle any other challenge, is through collaboration,” Haddad said.
