FOUNDED: 1962
LEGACY: The modern, multi-tenant business park, now a standard sight across the country, largely was forged in the late 1960s by Donald Koll. A 1968 deal with what’s now Aetna Inc. to build big business parks is widely cited as the first example of a real estate developer hooking up with a corporate backer.
HQ: Newport Beach
OC SIGNIFICANCE: Koll built 90M+ s/f of office towers, industrial parks, hotels, golf courses and other projects in the U.S., Mexico and Asia. Became known for forging skyline around John Wayne Airport, including 1.5M s/f Koll Center Newport office complex. Along with Irvine Company’s Donald Bren and South Coast Plaza’s Henry Segerstrom, Koll is considered to be part of a core group of formative developers who’ve shaped modern OC.
QUOTABLE: “Almost forty years ago when that area was still mostly agricultural in nature, I was telling my team that the area (near John Wayne Airport) would become the Wilshire Boulevard of Orange County. I am not sure if they believed me then, but they certainly do now.” — Donald Koll
