Donald Bren

Owner, Chairman, Irvine Company

The richest developer in the United States tracks his fortune to the Irvine Company. In 1977, Bren joined an investment group that purchased Irvine Company from the James Irvine Foundation and became sole owner in 1996. Irvine Company’s holdings now encompass 129 million square feet and include more than 590 office buildings, 125 apartment communities with 65,000 apartments, 40 retail centers, one coastal resort, three golf courses and five marinas. The company’s portfolio is mostly located throughout Orange County, where it owns Fashion Island and Irvine Spectrum. The company has played a key role in shaping the City of Irvine into a premium residential and business hub in Southern California. 

Bren exited the downtown San Diego office sector last year, ending a run as the dominant landlord in the city’s center. The string of selloffs was uncharacteristic for Bren in terms of his more typical buy-and-hold approach, but offered an example of his willingness to move with the market, as seen when he revived homebuilding in-house and to upgrade Newport Center and its Fashion Island anchor during the Great Financial Crisis. Last year he issued a public statement distancing himself and his company from son David Bren, who allegedly scammed investors out of millions from an apparent private members’ club in Beverly Hills. “We do not have a personal or business relationship with this individual,” a Bren spokesperson told the press.