JOURNEY STARTS: Igor Olenicoff grew up in what’s now Northern Iran, where his czarist-connected family had moved to escape the aftermath of the Soviet Revolution. Born in 1942 and emigrated to the U.S. at age 15 and eventually built up a real estate empire. Has homes in both Emerald Bay and Florida.
REAL ESTATE: Founded Olen Properties Corp., one of OC’s largest privately-held real estate firms. The Newport Beach-based firm’s first commercial development was in 1974, when it built the 14-building Orange Freeway Business Park, a roughly 190K-square-foot collection of offices and flex space along Orangethorpe Avenue in Placentia. Portfolio now spans 30M square feet across eight states.
Commercial portfolio, topping 8M square feet, is heavy on low-rise office and flex space, and is largely concentrated in OC. Portfolio reportedly counts occupancies in excess of 90%. Rents rising modestly over past year, and land values of properties seeing solid boosts due to multi-family developer interest, particularly in IBC. No intention of selling, with minimal debt and long-term holding strategy. Considering handful of redevelopment projects in OC for older properties.
Primary expansion for Olen over past decade has been for apartments, which are largely concentrated outside OC. The company’s added thousands of rental units to its ever-expanding portfolio in the Southeast over the past decade. Olen Properties owns over 17K residential units in California and seven other U.S. states, with more than 20K tenants. Rents continue to climb, and occupancies reported to be solid.
OTHER INVESTMENTS: Sources familiar with Olen report that Olenicoff remains heavily invested in the stock market, with a tech-heavy portfolio reported to be in excess of several billion dollars. Our latest estimate for Olenicoff’s wealth factors in stock gains estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars over the past 12 months.
BIG BREAK: Worked for Shell, Touche Ross and Motown, where he was a VP and business consultant to Berry Gordy, expanding the company out of Detroit to Hollywood. Founding partner in real estate syndicator Gemini Pacific. VP of operations at Dunn Properties before starting Olen.
PHILANTHROPY: Andrei Olenicoff Memorial Foundation, charity for eye health, blindness cure, in memory of Olenicoff’s late son.
QUOTABLE: “I have seen a company of substantial stature, with a dedicated staff, rise from a personal dream. Today, we are very confident about our future and the achievement of even loftier goals. We know that in our industry there is no room for complacency.” —Olenicoff’s message on the company website
