Irvine Company LLC

Irvine Company Headquarters in Newport Center
Type	Private
Industry	Real estate Community development Property investment Urban planning Urban design
Founded	1864 (1864-MM)
Headquarters	Newport Beach, California, United States of America
Number of locations	Orange County, San Diego County, Silicon Valley, Westside
Area served	California
Key people	James Irvine (Founder) Donald Bren (Chairman)
Website	www.irvinecompany.com

The Irvine Company is a privately held real estate development company based in Newport Beach, Orange County, Southern California. The corporate center of the company lies in Newport Center. A large portion of its operations are centered in and around the City of Irvine, a planned city of 250,000 people mainly designed by the Irvine Company. It was created by the Irvine family and is currently wholly owned by Donald Bren.

History[link]

The Irvine Company grew from the premise of a 185-square-mile (480 km²) ranch founded by James Irvine I,^[1] Benjamin and Thomas Flint, and Llewellyn Bixby in 1864 from three adjoining Mexican land grants. Irvine and his partners began by purchasing the Rancho San Joaquin, which constitutes the coastal half of the present-day ranch, from Jose Antonio Sepulveda. A drought that killed his livestock forced Sepulveda to sell his ranch in 1864. The partners purchased Rancho Lomas de Santiago—largely unfarmable due to its steep, hilly terrain—in 1866 from William Wolfskill, who had used it largely as a sheep ranch. Flint, Bixby and Irvine were among the claimants of a title lawsuit that divided Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana in 1868.

In 1894, Irvine's son, James Irvine II, incorporated the land holdings as the Irvine Company.

In 1953, the National Scout Jamboree was held on Irvine Ranch land in the area of what is now Fashion Island Shopping Center. Jamboree Road, running from Newport Beach to Orange, was built to allow people to travel to the jamboree from nearby train stations.

In 1959 the Irvine Company donated 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) and sold 500 acres (2.0 km²) near Newport Beach to the University of California for construction of a new UC campus (map). The university and company together designed the Irvine Ranch Master Plan for developing the surrounding area. The city of Irvine, whose citizens officially incorporated it in 1971, grew around the campus.

In 1977, real estate developer Donald Bren began buying Irvine Company shares from the Irvine family. By 1983, he was the majority owner of the Irvine Company. By 1996, he had purchased all outstanding shares to be the sole owner of the company.

Operations[link]

The Irvine Company develops suburban master-planned communities throughout central and southern Orange County, in addition to residential buildings in Santa Monica, Silicon Valley, and San Diego.^[2] The company also owns and manages office buildings in Milpitas, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Downtown San Diego, Mission Valley, San Diego, La Jolla Village/University City, Sorrento Mesa, Del Mar Heights, Newport Center, UCI locations, and West Los Angeles.^[3] Donald Bren is its Chairman and sole shareholder.

The 94,000-acre (380 km²) Irvine Ranch remains the core holding of The Irvine Company. Of the total ranch area, 44,000 acres (180 km²) is retained for development whilst the remainder are preserved as wilderness and recreational preserves. The Ranch encompasses almost one fifth of Orange County, from the Pacific Ocean and Newport Harbor, Laguna Beach, and Santa Ana Canyon, to the boundary of the Cleveland National Forest.

A partial list of cities within the boundaries of the Irvine Ranch includes:

• Irvine
• Laguna Beach
• Anaheim (Anaheim Hills)
• Tustin (Tustin Ranch)
• Orange
• Newport Beach

The Irvine Company owns several large retail centers, including The Market Place and Irvine Spectrum Center in Irvine, and Fashion Island in Newport Beach, which is surrounded by the prestigious Newport Center commercial area. The Irvine Company also holds many office properties, particularly in Irvine and Newport Center, and has nearly 500 throughout Coastal California.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Irvine Company website
• Visit the wildlands and parks on The Irvine Ranch, where The Irvine Ranch Conservancy provides public access and environmental restoration.
• Map of the Irvine Ranch and information on its master plan

Donald Bren
Born	(1932-05-11) May 11, 1932 (age 80)[1][2][3] Los Angeles, California
Residence	Newport Beach, California[4]
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Washington[5]
Occupation	Chairman of the Board, The Irvine Company
Known for	Real Estate Development
Net worth	US$ 12.0 billion (est.) (September 2010)[6][7]
Religion	Episcopalian
Spouse	Brigitte (Muller) Bren[8]
Children	seven
Website
www.donald-bren.com

Donald L. Bren (born May 11, 1932) is an American businessman who is Chairman of the Irvine Company, a US Based real estate investment company, which he wholly owns.

Early Life and Education[link]

Bren graduated from the University of Washington where he received a bachelor's degree in business administration.^[5][9] He tried out for the 1956 Olympic ski team but did not qualify due to an injury.^[10] After college he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.^[11]

Bren is the son of naval officer and entertainment executive Milton Bren and his wife, civic leader Marion (Newbert) Bren. His parents divorced in 1947, and Bren's father married Academy Award-winning actress Claire Trevor in 1948. His mother remarried in 1953, to steel business man Earle M. Jorgensen.

Business career[link]

Bren built his first house in Newport Beach with a $10,000 loan, in 1958. He began his business career in 1958 when he founded the Bren Company, which built homes in Orange County, California. In 1963, he and two others started the Mission Viejo Company (MVC) and purchased 10,000 acres to plan and develop the city of Mission Viejo, California. Bren was President of MVC from 1963 to 1967.^[12] International Paper bought Bren Co. for $34 million in 1970,^[13] and then sold it back to Bren for $22 million in 1972 following the recession.^[14] Bren took the proceeds and in 1977 joined a group of investors to purchase the 146-year-old Irvine Company. Bren was the largest shareholder of the resulting consortium, owning 34.3% of the company and received the title of Vice-chair of the board.^[15] By 1983, he was the majority owner of the firm^[16] and was elected chairman of the board. By 1996, he had bought out all outstanding shares to become the sole owner.

In an interview in 2011, Bren summarized his real estate investment strategy: “What I learned was that when you hold property over the long term, you’re able to create better values and you have something tangible to show for it.”^[17] Forbes, in its 2008 edition of, "The 400 Richest Americans," ranked Bren as the wealthiest real estate developer in the US with an estimated net worth of $12 billion.

Philanthropy[link]

In 2010, Bren was honored with the National Philanthropy Day of Orange County “Donald Bren Legacy of Giving Award.” At the time Bren spoke about his work in philanthropy, saying that “I do try to bring the same level of attention to both my philanthropic and business ventures.”^[18][19] In 2008, BusinessWeek named Bren one of the top ten philanthropists in the nation, with his contributions to various causes such as education, conservation and research among other areas exceeding $1 billion.^[20]

Education[link]

An advocate for education, Bren has donated more than $200 million to support programs in K-12 public schools and higher education institutions in Southern California.^[21]

Many of Bren's contributions have benefited universities in California, including the University of California, Irvine, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Chapman University. At UC Irvine, the Bren Events Center, the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences and the recently-built Donald Bren Hall are named after him, honoring his patronage of the school. The University also named its Claire Trevor School of the Arts after his stepmother. Additionally, UC Santa Barbara named Bren Hall and the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, a graduate school, after him as well. Bren made a donation to the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management to “enhance and strengthen the school’s core interdisciplinary programs, personnel, and special activities.”^[22] When commenting about the continued support from Bren, UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry T. Yang said, “Bren’s vision for developing a peerless, world-leading institution offering an interdisciplinary program of environmental science, management, and policy has been a tremendous source of inspiration and leadership for the Bren School.”^[22]

In August 2007, Bren pledged $20 million to the recently-established UC Irvine School of Law. The purpose of the gift was to establish an endowment to help recruit and support a nationally recognized dean and 11 distinguished law scholars, and also to provide the dean with discretionary start-up funding. In recognition of the gift, the school was initially named the UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Law. In 2008 an agreement was reached between Bren and the University that the school would not bear his name. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school, said, "We are deeply grateful for the Bren gift, but it was decided between the chancellor and Mr. Bren that our name should be parallel to other UC schools."^[23]

Bren, a trustee at the California Institute of Technology, supported new faculty as Bren Scholars and endowed five Bren Professorships.^[24]

• 

  Claire Trevor Theatre, UC Irvine

• ETplazaAtbrenics.jpg

  The Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences viewed from the top of Bren Hall, UC Irvine

• 

  Basketball court of the Bren Events Center before a game, UC Irvine

• 

  Bren Hall, UC Santa Barbara

In 2003, Bren also donated $1 million to the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia. The funds were used to endow two academic chairs focusing on ethics & leadership and innovation & transformation.^[25]

In addition to higher education, Bren has also contributed significantly to K-12 public schools in California.

He has supported THINK Together, a provider of after-school services for K-6 students in Southern California.^[26] Bren first donated to this organization in 2001 with a contribution that helped the after-school program expand its services to 40 schools in the Santa Ana district. According to officials, the contribution would benefit more than 10,000 students over 10 years.^[27]

During 2006, Bren also made a contribution to the Irvine Unified School District in Irvine, California, in the amount of $20 million. This donation would be used by the district to hire art, music and science teachers. The funding would benefit students in grades fourth through sixth over a 10-year period, giving them access to music, arts and science programs.^[21] This contribution is in addition to the $25 million that Bren provided to Irvine schools in 2000.^[28] According to Tim Shaw, former chief executive officer of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation, the annual gift “seeded the strong public support of elementary arts, music and science instruction.”^[27]

Conservation[link]

In March 2009, he was ranked 9th^[29] in The (London) Sunday Times' "Green Rich List"—a list of the 100 wealthiest people who have either invested in green technology/businesses or made large contributions to environmental causes.^[30] Bren's placement on the list was due to his $20 million in donations to UC Santa Barbara's School of Environmental Science.^[31]

Throughout a 30-year time span, Bren donated 50,000 acres (200 km²) of land to Orange County, California, to be used for parks, greenways, recreation and wilderness preserves.^[32] The donated land fulfills Bren’s plans and commitment to preserve more than 50-percent of historic Irvine Ranch of 93,000 acres (380 km²).^[32] Of this, 40,000 acres (160 km²) were designated as the Irvine Ranch National Natural Landmark.^[33] During the 2006 ceremony at Crystal Cove State Park to celebrate this designation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said “it is really a spectacular gift that [Bren’s] given to [California]. Donald Bren is…the ultimate of generosity. Not only what he contributes to the environment, but what he contributes continuously to the community, if it is in education, if it is in arts, if it is music, if it is the environment, the 10s of millions of dollars he’s invested in the environment, to protect the environment. He’s an extraordinary man.” ^[34]

In 2008, the state of California also designated the land as the first California Natural Landmark because of the land’s ecological value. The protected land, once a part of Irvine Ranch, is operated by The Irvine Ranch Conservancy.^[33] Recently, Bren completed his pledge to set aside more than 50,000 acres of the original 93,000 acre ranch as open space by designating 20,000 acres (81 km2) to Orange County, California, as an open-space and parklands gift in June 2010. The gift was accepted in a unanimous decision by the Orange County Board of Supervisors and was the largest donation of private property to public ownership in Orange County history.^[32] In a ceremony in the same year, he was recognized for donating more than 20,000 acres of pristine wilderness that he gave to Orange County, asking only that it remain open space forever.^[35]

Gale Norton, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior, speaking about Bren’s history of land donations, said, “The Irvine Ranch illustrates what cooperative conservation is all about. A conservation-minded corporate citizen is working hand-in-hand with federal and state agencies, The Nature Conservancy, local communities, private citizens and other partners to thoughtfully and purposefully create an environment where both people and wildlife can thrive."^[36]

Research[link]

In 2007, Bren made a $2.5 million commitment to the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, California. The contribution established The Donald Bren Presidential Chair and the money donated was used to support research conducted by the Institute such as cancer, neurodegeneration, diabetes, and childhood diseases among others.^[37][38]

From a 2011 interview, solar energy is one of the areas he is exploring for a future philanthropic gift. "It's my view that solar energy may be the ultimate solution for energy for most of the world. I believe, based on what little I know about it, that there is a possibility of a breakthrough." ^[17]

Awards & Honors[link]

In 2011, the Urban Land Institute awarded Bren its first Vanguard Award,^[39][40] calling him "one of the most consequential developers in American history." In 2006, the Orange County Business Journal named Bren “Businessperson of the Year,” based on the company’s office expansion, new building construction and Bren being recognized for his conservation efforts by the federal government.^[41] That same year, The Los Angeles Times named Bren one of the most powerful people in Southern California. According to the article, “simply put, Orange County looks like Orange County...because of the influence of [Donald Bren].”^[42]

In 2004 Bren received the University of California Presidential Medal, the University’s highest honor, because of his financial support throughout the years which at the time was more than $43 million.^[43] During the award ceremony, former UC President, Robert Dynes said, “[Bren’s] passionate philanthropy and commitment to educational excellence have helped strengthen the university.”^[44]

In 1998, Bren received the Marine Corps University Foundation’s Semper Fidelis Award, which recognizes a distinguished American leader whose commitment to personal and professional excellence embodies those qualities of leadership and character uniquely associated with the United States Marine Corps. Past award recipients include former President George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of State George P. Schultz. The Foundation also presented Bren with its most prestigious award in 2003, the General Leonard F. Chapman Medallion named in honor of the 24th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.^[25]

Bren serves on the board of trustees at Caltech trustee, UC Irvine Foundation ^[45] and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and is a Fellow with the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Personal life[link]

In May 1998, Bren, 66, an Episcopalian, married Brigitte Muller, a 32-year-old entertainment lawyer born in La Jolla, California.,^[8] in a church ceremony at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, California. He and his wife reside in Newport Beach, California.^[4]

Bren also keeps a low public profile and as he explained, "I'm not a public official. I'm a businessman, I'm a builder, I'm a planner... And if I feel that I've done the job well, that's the satisfaction I get, not from doing interviews or being more public."^[17]

Politics[link]

Bren is a supporter of Republicans. He backed Pete Wilson's Senate and gubernatorial campaigns. He's also long supported Democrat Dianne Feinstein, whom he calls "a great senator for California."

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Biography at the Irvine Company
• Biography at UCI's Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
• Donald Bren: Southern California's richest man in his own words by Los Angeles Times