DONALD BREN
Owner, Chairman
Irvine Co.
Newport Beach
Born in Los Angeles
Age: 86
Lives in Newport Beach
WHY: County’s dominant landowner, landlord, with estimated 122 million total square feet in companywide portfolio, including more than 550 office buildings, over 40 retail centers, 125 apartment communities, three golf clubs, five marinas, and three hotels and resorts. Irvine Ranch among country’s most successful and most copied master-planned communities. Sole shareholder of company. Wealthiest U.S. real estate developer. Business Journal conservatively estimates fortune at more than $17 billion.
HOW: Founded homebuilder California Pacific Homes in 1958. Started Mission Viejo Co. with O’Neill-Moiso family and others five years later; then sold stake to partners. Part of 1977 group that bought Irvine Co. Bought out most partners in 1983 for $518 million, elected chairman. Became 100% shareholder in 1996.
RECENT: Most active commercial developer in California, with bulk of new construction taking place in the Spectrum area of Irvine. Mid-rise buildings a focus, new development, Spectrum Terrace, getting close to being unveiled. Switch in homebuilding plans on Irvine Ranch; building still in full force, but increased emphasis on Irvine Pacific, the company’s in-house homebuilder. Irvine Ranch the best-selling master-planned community on West Coast several years running.
FAST FACT: Stepmother, Claire Trevor, won an Academy Award for work in 1948 movie “Key Largo.”
QUOTABLE: “As master builders, we are blending architectural and planning skills, business and financial disciplines, to produce superbly balanced communities. I consider the Irvine Co. land a quintessential opportunity and challenge for anyone in real estate.”
PERSONAL: Former Marine officer, contributed academic chairs at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va. Contributed more than 57,500 acres—over half of 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch—as parks and open space. Endowed over 50 permanent distinguished professor chairs at University of California and CalTech, founded Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at University of California-Santa Barbara. Accomplished skier, has ranch in Sun Valley, Idaho. Married to Brigitte Bren. Splits time between Newport Beach and Los Angeles.
