Lennar Gets Funky; Quik Goes French; About Bus(c)h

Word on the street has Lennar getting “funky” with at least one of its several projects at Beacon Park, the next phase of Great Park Neighborhoods. The homebuilder—which runs day-to-day out of Aliso Viejo and spun off Great Park master developer FivePoint Communities in 2009—is said to have some “Southwestern Art Deco” in the wings for Beacon Park’s debut in coming weeks. What’s that? Think of Union Station in L.A. for some sense of the cosmopolitan style Lennar has cooking … Emile Haddad’s vision of a new mix for Irvine, with Great Park Neighborhoods venturing beyond familiar color palettes for starters, could become an important selling point for business retention, as well as realtors. Over to the right on this page is a report on Sage Group’s decision to shift its North American headquarters functions from the fully functional Irvine Spectrum to the “emerging Midtown Atlanta tech corridor.” The Georgians might have had an undeniable advantage, being several hours closer by air to Sage’s ultimate HQ in London—but it seems the ATL’s downtown vibe also helped …OC got a split decision with Quiksilver’s de facto headquarters shift, as our Mediha DiMartino reports on page 1. The surfwear pioneer’s apparel business is now effectively run from France. Huntington Beach remains home to a regional contingent on apparel, as well as the operations hub for DC Shoes …The clock appears to be ticking on Quiksilver, where a delisting looms and a miss on its spring collections could bring a day of reckoning in the first half of next year, according to DiMartino’s report … A new clock just started for recently dismissed CEO Andy Mooney—a Nike vet who apparently couldn’t overcome Quiksilver’s old guard. Mooney recently took the top job at Fender Musical Instruments Corp. in Scottsdale, which can feel a bit like OC without the surfer dudes—which might just suit him fine … Kudos to the OC chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, which impressed again with its Annual Summer Media Mixer last week. And to the Westin South Coast Plaza, gracious host for the third annual run of what’s become a genuine treat for scribes and PR pros alike … The whole crowd at the OC PRSA mixer will surely want to note reports that Rick Reiff is on the lookout for guests for a new OC-centric show on PBS SocaL. Sounds like a reprise of an earlier Reiff show that focused tightly on OC before broadening its perspective with the advent of the station’s flagship status in the Southern California region. Reiff now gets plenty of the regional jazz with co-host Elizabeth Espinosa on Studio SoCal, which also airs on PBS SoCal. All indicators point to Reiff—a Laguna Beach resident who has a Pulitzer Prize, Golden Mike and editor-at-large status here at the Business Journal to his credit—also homing back in on his own backyard … Jeb Bush is due for a fundraiser next week at the home of Andrew Littlefair, boss of T. Boone Pickens-backed, Newport Beach-based natural gas specialist Clean Energy Corp. … Another Busch—note the c, and call this one Tim—has signed on with Rick Santorum, one of the many contenders for the GOP’s 2016 nomination. The Irvine-based lawyer and hotelier joined Lamar Hunt Jr. and 40 others on the finance committee for Santorum, a one-time senator who exceeded expectations as a social conservative entry in the 2012 primaries but has failed to gain much traction this time around.