Donald Bren: The Real Estate Development Baron, Net Worth, Businesses

As master builders, we are blending architectural and planning skills, plus business and financial disciplines, to produce superbly balanced communities. I consider the Irvine Company land a quintessential opportunity and challenge for anyone in real estate.

-       Donald Bren

In America today, real estate has proved to be the next big investment after stock investment. With a lot of companies and individuals exploring the real estate market, quite a few companies and individuals have been able to create a name for themselves in the industry. Among the top real estate influencers is Donald Bren. He is the owner and chairman of the Irvine Company, a real estate investment company that was formerly a California-based real estate company purchased by Bren and a couple of other investors in 1977. He is also a successful American businessman commonly known for real estate development. In August 2019, he was ranked by Forbes as the richest real estate developer.

Net worth

$15.3B as of May 27, 2020.

Early life and education

Donald Leroy Bren was born on May 11, 1932, to Marion and Milton Bren in Los Angeles, California. As far as society was concerned at that time, Bren’s parents were successful as his father, Milton “was a naval officer, talent agent, and successful movie producer while his mother, Marion was a prominent civic leader.”

Bren attended the University of Washington where he graduated with a bachelors degree in business administration and economics. On graduation from college, he followed his father’s steps by serving in the U.S. Marine Corps as an officer until 1958 where he opted out to do business after three years with the Marines. 

How did he build his career?

In 1958, Bren founded his first real estate company, the Bren Company which operated mainly in Orange County, California.  Working on the company’s first-ever project, Bren had to take a 10,000 loan from the Bank of America. The real estate development was a home located in Lido Isle, Newport Beach.  A couple of years later, specifically 1963 Bren got to other investors onboard to pool funds together and start the Mission Viejo Company or MVC where Bren served as president of the company for the next four years. The team purchased 11,000 acres of land with the aim of developing Mission Viejo, California. About four years later (1967), Bren sold off his stake in MVC to pursue other real estate interests such as developing new communities—Newhall Ranch, Foster City, and Westlake Village.

In 1970, Bren sold his company Bren Co. to International Paper for $34 million and repurchased it back for $22 million in 1972, thereby, putting Bren Co. at a gain over International Paper. Using the earnings from his company sale, Bren, together with other investors pool their funds together to purchase the Irvine Company.

The Irvine Company was originally founded by James Irvine in 1864. The company had been put up for sale after the death of its original founder in 1886. Quite a few companies showed interest, but Bren was able to secure it at $337.4million with the partnership of late Alfred Taubman who contributed 40% of the total amount, and loans gotten from a few banks. With the required amount in place, Bren and his team of investors were able to secure the 146-year old company. Its leadership and management took a new turn in 1977 after Bren and other investors purchased it. After purchase, Bren was made chairman of the board in 1983. He eventually claimed sole ownership of the company by buying out its other investors within the next twenty years. Having full control gave Bren the liberty of effectively running the company and taking it to the next business levels which resulted in a multi-billion real estate company. One of the Irvine Company’s finest real estate yet is the City of Irvine which is the most desirable real estate location in the U.S. with a population of 270,000 as of 2019, and has the potential of increasing to about 325,000 in the next 10 years.

Bren’s long-lasted business strategy has been to reinvest the profits gotten from closed deals back into new developments. “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.”

It’s been over forty years since the Irvine Company has been in operation, and it has since developed many private and commercial real estate properties and has about 120,000,000 ft.² of real estate within America. The company’s portfolio so far includes apartment complexes, retail centers, office buildings, hotels, golf courses, and marinas spread all over the U.S. His overall apartment complexes total 125 while his office building totals 550.

Other interests

As a real estate developer, one of Bren’s major concern is sustainability. So far, there’s been good reports about Bren’s and the Irvine Company’s commitment to environmental preservation and sustainability development. He is also a philanthropist and a strong supporter of education and scientific research.

He has so far, contributed to the funding of Caltech for Space Solar Power Project, a project concerned with researching the possibility of tapping electricity from space. Together with the Irvine Company team, he initiated the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California. The school has since officially become the first computer science school in California. Passionate about education and environmental sustainability, Bren also founded the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, the nation’s first environmental graduate school. He has also donated over 58,000 acres for the creation of a “permanently preserved open space and parklands.”

Awards

●     California Institute of Technology Robert A. Milikan Medal

●     American Academy of Arts & Sciences Fellow

●     University of California Presidential Medal

●     Marine Corps University Foundation’s General Leonard F. Chapman Jr. Medal