Irvine Company

The Irvine Company traces its history to a ranch founded by James Irvine I, Benjamin and Thomas Flint, and Llewellyn Bixby in 1864 by combining three adjoining Mexican land grants. A drought in 1864 killed the livestock of Jose Antonio Sepulveda, forcing him to sell his coastal Rancho San Joaquin to Irvine and his partners. In 1866 they purchased Rancho Lomas de Santiago from William Wolfskill; largely unfarmable due to its steep, hilly terrain, it had been used mainly as a sheep ranch. In 1868 Flint, Bixby and Irvine were among the claimants of a title lawsuit that divided Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. Unlike other early Newport Beach landowners, Irvine and his partners had no interest in subdividing and selling, intent, instead, upon identifying the most lucrative agricultural uses for their enormous . The Irish-born Irvine met Collis Huntington, soon to become one of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPR) magnates, on a trip across the Atlantic. Rather than cementing a friendship, a disagreement that lasted throughout their lives resulted. When Huntington's Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) needed Irvine's land for its route between Orange County and San Diego, Irvine refused. When SP crews began laying tracks on Irvine land without permission, ranch hands with shotguns confronted the crews. Eventually, Irvine gave the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway permission to build on his ranch. When Irvine died in 1886, trustees, left in control of the ranch until his son James II (b.1867) turned 25, tried to sell it at auction. When this auction was declared illegal, James II took over the reins of the ranch and accelerated efforts to increase its agricultural production. In 1894, he incorporated the land holdings as the Irvine Company. Between the late 1800s to the 1970s, the Irvine Company continued to also run cattle operations on the property, with "Bommer Canyon Cattle Camp" serving as its center. They also ran sheep. James Irvine remarked in 1867 that he and his men "rode about [the Irvine Ranch] a good deal, sometimes coming home in the evening after a thirty- or forty-mile ride pretty thoroughly tired out, but we had to do it in order to see much of the ranch and the flock." At the time, his Irvine Company had been purchasing further adjoining parcels of land, "[so] there [was] considerable riding to be done, if one [was] to see much of [the ranch]." In 1977, a group led by A. Alfred Taubman and including real estate developer Donald Bren bought the company from the Irvine Foundation. The Bommer Canyon area was sold to the City of Irvine between 1981 and 1982, ==Operations==

, owned by the Irvine Ranch Water District and a part of the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks system The Irvine Company develops suburban master-planned communities throughout central and southern Orange County, California and residential buildings in Santa Monica, Silicon Valley, and San Diego County. 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, West Los Angeles, Pasadena, Chicago, and New York City. The Irvine Ranch remains the core holding of The Irvine Company. It 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. Of the total ranch area, is retained for development whilst the remainder - principally rugged canyons, wetlands, and water districts - are maintained as wilderness and recreational preserves collectively known as the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks. In August 2014, the Irvine Company announced plans to donate and preserve 2,500 additional acres of land previously approved for housing. In part because of its land preservation grants, in 2018 Irvine Company was named Business Philanthropist of the Year by the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber also cited gifts of more than $220 million to city schools and universities. 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 Newport Center commercial area. The Irvine Company also holds several office properties, particularly in Irvine and Newport Center, the 20th Century Studios Plaza in Century City, Los Angeles, the MetLife Building in New York City, and nearly 550 total properties throughout Coastal California. Among the company properties are apartment units in Santa Clara and San Jose, including ~800 in Santa Clara Square and ~800 and Monticello in Santa Clara; and ~500 in RiverView, 2,188 in North Park, and ~500 in Crescent Village in San Jose. The company laid off 1,700 staff in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which mostly affected three hotels and resorts. Irvine Company purchased Symphony Towers in San Diego for $134 million in 2003. They sold the 34-story office tower to Taiwanese company Formosa, Ltd. for $45.7 million, 70% less, in September 2024. ==Notable properties==