Donald Leroy Bren (born May 11, 1932) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and owner of the Irvine Company, a US real estate development corporation. With a net worth of $16.2 billion, he ranks number 112 on the 2022 Forbes Billionaires List. Bren owns Irvine Co., one of California’s largest private landowners. The Newport Beach-based company owns New York’s MetLife building, more than 590 office properties, over 125 apartment communities and 40 shopping centers. It also controls marinas and hotels around southern California, Chicago and Silicon Valley.
The majority of Bren’s fortune derives from his ownership of Irvine, California-based Irvine Co., a closely held real estate investment business.
The company controls more than 590 office properties, over 125 apartment communities, 40 retail centers, five marinas, a coastal resort and three golf courses, according to the company website.
Occupancy rates, rent per square foot and cap rates for Bren’s properties were aggregated from Bloomberg Intelligence, REIS, Real Capital Analytics and CBRE. Each property was individually valued and a debt level of 55% was used on Irvine’s office, retail, and residential properties. No debt has been applied to his raw land.
Bren’s residential rental properties encompass more than 65,000 housing units spread out over Orange County, San Diego, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, and retail properties cover 40 shopping centers in Orange County and Silicon Valley.
A liability of $2.5 billion is included to reflect lines of credit that Irvine Co. holds through bonds tracked by Bloomberg.
Biography
Early life
Bren is the son of Marion Newbert and Milton Bren. His Jewish father Milton was a naval officer, talent agent, and movie producer. His mother Marion, who is of partial Irish descent, was a civic leader. Following their divorce in 1948, Bren’s father remarried Academy Award-winning actress Claire Trevor in the same year. His mother later got remarried to steel businessman Earle M. Jorgensen in 1953.
Bren graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics. He failed to qualify for the 1956 Olympic ski team following an injury. After college, he served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps.
He and two partners started the Mission Viejo Co. (MVC) and purchased 10,000 acres to plan and develop the city of Mission Viejo, California, in 1963. He sold his stake in MVC in 1967 to focus on the Bren Co. and sold his namesake firm to International Paper in 1970 for $34 million, only to buy it back in 1972, following a recession, at a lower price.
Bren and a group of investors bought a 34% stake in closely held Irvine Co. in 1977. The company owned the Irvine Ranch, which was founded by James Irvine in 1864 and consisted of 93,000 acres of land stretching from Newport Beach to the Cleveland National Forest. When the US housing market stalled in the early 1980s, Bren started buying out his partners. He became chairman and majority shareholder in 1983 and sole owner in 1996.
The billionaire has donated more than 50,000 acres of the Irvine ranch to Orange County parks and the state of California. The other 43,000 acres have been developed into the largest suburban community between Los Angeles and San Diego. He serves on the board of trustees at California Institute of Technology and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and is a fellow with the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Bren alternates between homes in Newport Beach, Los Angeles and Sun Valley, Idaho. He’s been married three times and has seven children.
Career
In 1958, Bren began his business career by starting the Bren Company to build homes. In 1963, he and two others started the Mission Viejo Company (MVC), which purchased 10,000 acres to develop the city of Mission Viejo, California. He was President of MVC from 1963 to 1967. International Paper bought the Bren Co. for $34 million in 1970. They sold it back to Bren for $22 million in 1972 due to the recession.
In 1977, Bren joined a group of investors to purchase the 146-year-old Irvine Company. He became the largest shareholder of the consortium, owning 34.3% of the company, and the vice-chair of the board. In 1983, as the majority owner of the firm, he was elected chairman of the board. By 1996, he bought out the remaining shares to become the sole owner.
OC Weekly wrote in 2005 that Bren “wields more power than Howard Hughes ever did, probably as much as any man in America over a concentrated region—determining not only how people live and shop but who governs them.” In 2006, the Los Angeles Times wrote “[s]imply put, Orange County looks like Orange County…because of the influence of [Donald Bren].” In a 2011 interview, 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.”[18] Forbes, in its 2019 edition of “The 400 Richest Americans“, ranked Bren as the wealthiest real estate developer in the US and 32nd “Richest American” with an estimated net worth of $17 billion.
It is believed that the Irvine Company owns more than 120 million ft.² of real estate – the majority of which is in Southern California. The company’s holdings include several hotels, marinas, golf courses, 550 office buildings, 125 apartment complexes and more than 40 shopping centers. He currently also owns a 97% stake in the MetLife Building in Manhattan.
Milestones
- 1932 Born in Los Angeles to Milton Bren and Miriam Newbert.
- 1956 Leaves the University of Washington with business degree.
- 1958 Founds the Bren Co.; begins building homes in Orange Country.
- 1970 Sells the Bren Co. to International Paper for $34 million.
- 1972 Buys back the Bren Co. for $22 million following the recession.
- 1996 Completes buyout of Irvine Co. partners to become sole owner.
- 2001 Land donations to Orange County and California top 50,000 acres.
- 2010 Two of Bren’s kids lose lawsuit for $134 million in child support.
- 2010 Buys Chicago’s Hyatt Center from Pritzker family for $625 million.
- 2014 Buys Chicago tower for $850 million, record price for office tower in the city.
