Irvine Co.: Largest U.S. real estate fortune

September 29th, 2011, 12:00 am posted by Jon Lansner

Homebuilding in Irvine

Donald Bren is not simply the wealthiest person in Orange County. His fortune — recently estimated by Forbes magazine at $12 billion — is also the largest American real estate fortune.

The wealth of the Irvine Co. owner, a property empire ranked 26th on the 2011 edition of Forbes’ annual ranking of the 400 richest Americans, was the largest among 27 American real estate-linked fortunes listed by Forbes. Bren’s fortune — which Forbes has pegged at $12 billion since 2008 — dwarfed the second-largest real estate fortune: the $5 billion wealth of New York developer Richard LeFrak.

Forbes writes of the 79-year-old Bren:

California real estate developer Donald Bren sits atop a mostly thriving mix of residential and commercial properties as the head of the Irvine Company. It purchased several properties within the past year, including the Hyatt Center office building in Chicago, which it bought from the Pritzker family for a reported $625 million. Irvine Co. has created a homebuilding unit that sold some 1500 new homes since January 2010. It’s also building the new headquarters for bond fund manager PIMCO in Newport Beach. The Irvine Co. portfolio includes 480 office properties, 125 apartment communities with roughly 44,000 units, 41 shopping centers, three hotels, three golf clubs and five marinas.

Two other Orange County-bred real estate fortunes made the Forbes’ list:

At No. 150, Igor Olenicoff, 69, of Lighthouse Point, Florida who built the Newport Beach-based Olen Properties empite. Forbes thinks he’s worth $2.6 billion. Forbes writes:

Through his Olen Properties owns more than 6.4 million square feet of office space, nearly 12,000 residential units in Las Vegas, Arizona, Florida.

At No. 260, George Argyros, 74, of Newport Beach. Worth a reported $1.75 billion. Forbes writes:

Investor and property baron George Argyros began career in the grocery business and eventually moved to real estate. His privately held Arnel & Affiliates manages 5,500 apartments and 2 million square feet of commercial space in southern California. Argyros also owns private equity outfit Westar Capital and is the leading investor in software development firm DST Systems.

Other California real estate fortunes on the Forbes 400:
No. 107: John A. Sobrato, 72, of Atherton — $3.2 billion.
No. 200: Edward Roski, 72, of Los Angeles — $2.1 billion.
No. 227: Richard Peery, 72, of Palo Alto — $1.9 billion.
No. 242: John Arrillaga, 74, of Portola Valley — $1.8 billion.
No. 293: Donald Sterling, 75, of Beverly Hills — $1.5 billion.
No. 359: Alan Casden, 65, of Beverly Hills — $1.2 billion.

And others, nationally:
No. 66: Sam Zell, 69, of Chicago, Illinois — $4.7 billion.
No. 75: Leonard Stern, 73, of New York, New York — $4.2 billion.
No. 103: Ted Lerner, 85, of Chevy Chase, Maryland — $3.3 billion.
No. 114: Stephen Ross, 71, of New York, New York — $3.1 billion.
No. 128: Donald Trump, 65, of New York, New York — $2.9 billion.
No. 159: Alfred Taubman, 87, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan — $2.5 billion.
No. 166: Ty Warner, 67, of Oak Brook, Illinois — $2.4 billion.
No. 188: Mortimer Zuckerman, 74, of New York, New York — $2.2 billion.
No. 200: Jeff Greene, 56, of Palm Beach, Florida — $2.1 billion.
No. 212: Neil Bluhm, 73, of Chicago, Illinois — $2 billion.
No. 212: Edward DeBartolo, 64, of Tampa, Florida — $2 billion.
No. 227: Sheldon Solow, 83, of New York, New York — $1.9 billion.
No. 242: Jerry Speyer, 71, of New York, New York — $1.8 billion.
No. 263: Brad Kelley, 54, of Franklin, Tennessee — $1.7 billion.
No. 273: Herbert Simon, 76, of Indianapolis, Indiana — $1.6 billion.
No. 331: Leon Charney, 70, of New York, New York — $1.3 billion.
No. 397: Steven Roth, 69, of New York, New York — $1.05 billion.

http://lansner.ocregister.com/2011/09/2 ... ne/125553/