DONALD BREN
CHAIRMAN
IRVINE COMPANY
THE WEALTH: Sits atop Orange County’s largest real estate company, controlling one of the largest portfolios of apartments and office properties in California, along with landmark assets nationwide, including the 58-story MetLife Building in New York City. Holdings consist of 129M square feet and include 590 office buildings, 125 apartment communities totaling 65K units, 40 retail centers, one coastal resort, three golf courses and five marinas, according to Irvine Company. Buildings largely in OC, with about 35% of the portfolio spread across Silicon Valley, San Diego, West Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. Office portfolio was nearly 90% leased at year-end in 2025, outperforming the national average vacancy rate of 22.2%, according to JLL.
BIG BREAK: Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bren attended the University of Washington before serving three years as a U.S. Marine Corps officer. He later returned to OC and built his first home in Newport Beach at age 25. In 1977, Bren joined a group of investors that acquired Irvine Co. from the founding family, the successor to the 93K-acre Irvine Ranch bought by James Irvine in 1864. Bought out most of his partners in 1983 and became the company’s sole owner in 1996. Since then, has overseen the evolution of the Irvine Ranch Master Plan, professionally planning and building the City of Irvine and Newport Coast into two of OC’s most prominent communities.
IN THE NEWS: Irvine Co. in June purchased the 51-year-old Newport Beach Car Wash near Fashion Island for $32.5M. The two-building, 1.26-acre parcel sits next to the mega developer’s proposed Block 100 development, which will convert a 142K-square-foot office campus into 600 apartment units. Plans to integrate the car wash site into the bigger development project. The company is also constructing another 184-unit apartment complex in its Villas Fashion Island community a couple blocks away.
MAJOR LOCAL HOLDINGS: Fashion Island, office buildings and apartment communities in Newport Center, Irvine Spectrum Center, half of the 185-acre UCI Research Park, Jamboree Center, MacArthur Court and large parts of the 5K-acre Irvine Spectrum.
PHILANTHROPY: Lifetime giving is estimated at more than $2.1B with over $265M going toward education. Over the years, has sponsored more than 60 endowed distinguished professor chairs at the University of California, Caltech and the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Viriginia. In April, the Donald Bren Foundation and Irvine Co. contributed another $2M toward a 20-year, $50M commitment to support arts, music and science programs at Irvine Unified School District. Set aside 57K-plus acres—more than half—of Irvine Ranch as open space and parklands in perpetuity. Also pledged $50M to the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, which he helped create, to protect and restore Southern California’s wilderness.