As the bombs fell, Emile Haddad would zone out, imagining he was on a far-off beach instead of in the middle of Lebanon’s civil war.
That was in the 1970s, when Haddad was a teenager. Between shootings and mortar attacks, Haddad fantasized about becoming a big-time deal-maker and jetting around the globe, from one high-pressure meeting to another.
Both dreams came true.
As chief executive of the real estate development company FivePoint Communities, Haddad frequently finds himself jumping on planes taking him to negotiations in San Francisco or New York. And because his company is in Aliso Viejo, he now lives less than 10 miles from Orange County’s coast.
Today, Haddad, 58, is best known for his role as a builder of homes and sports facilities at the Orange County Great Park on the former El Toro Marine base.
But to the north, Haddad is the manager of the massive Newhall Ranch development near Magic Mountain. He also leads a handful of military base reuse projects in and near San Francisco.
As chairman of the UC Irvine Foundation – and a member of numerous school and university boards and councils – Haddad has substantial influence on philanthropy and community programs throughout the region and the state.
This year, Haddad claimed progress on a promise to build a 175-acre sports complex at the Great Park, saying completion is likely within four years. He also unveiled Parasol Park, the third housing development in what’s marketed as the Great Park Neighborhoods.
Gary Hunt, a former Irvine Co. vice president, described Haddad as “a transformative” figure who is helping to shape Orange County’s future.
Irvine City Council member Jeff Lalloway, who locked horns with Haddad over details of the park’s development, called him “one of the best and brightest in Orange County.”
Anthony Kuo, chairman of the Irvine Planning Commission, said there have been several opportunities for FivePoints to back away and that other developers might have given up on the project.
“Emile didn’t do that,” Kuo said.
“He’s gone through a lot of strife” in his early life, he added.
“So if you tell him financing has fallen through, he goes, ‘I’ve been through a lot worse.’”
Ras Beirut
People mainly know Haddad as a big-time developer, building out Coto de Caza and creating developments from Anaheim to the Great Park.
Long ago, however, he was a carefree teenager half a world away with bell-bottom pants, platform shoes and an Afro. He played lead guitar in a band called the Icebergs.
Ras Beirut, his west Beirut neighborhood, was one of the most fashionable and diverse in the Mideast. People seldom knew or cared who was Muslim, Druze or Christian.
“I was in love with the place,” Haddad said.
That changed in 1975, when the Lebanese civil war erupted. Haddad was 17.
Survival became the goal. More than 150,000 people died in the war from 1975 to 1990. Things that Westerners take for granted – such as consistent electricity and clean water – became essentials, he said.
“Death was all around us,” he said.
When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, Haddad spent 80 days as a volunteer at the American University Hospital. There, he saw, up close, the horrors of combat.
Those 80 days, he said recently, had a big impact on the rest of his life.
“That’s when I realized the difference between problems and inconveniences.”
Great calamities
Years later, Haddad was in a much different place.
His family joined a brother in California in 1986 and, after a flurry of jobs, Haddad was working as chief investment officer for Lennar Homes, with a hand in developments around the state.
In 2005, when the shuttered El Toro Marine base came up for auction, it was Haddad’s job to make sure Lennar was top bidder, no matter the cost.
At the time, it seemed like a great idea. Hindsight shows otherwise. Starting in October 2005, the Southern California housing industry fell into a 61/2-year tailspin.
In September 2008, the company financing homes in Great Park Neighborhoods – Lehman Brothers – melted down. Also, the stock market crashed. Over the next 21/2 years Haddad flew regularly to and from New York, working to keep investors in his deal and finding a new lender.
“People don’t realize … how close this (project) got to the abyss, and the effort that was needed to keep it together,” Haddad said.
In December 2010, he nailed down a final deal to save his Great Park project. But days later, as FivePoint was unveiling plans for the first 4,900 homes, Gov. Jerry Brown abolished redevelopment agencies in California and, with it, wiped out the $1.4 billion in tax revenue that Irvine planned to use to pay for Great Park construction.
The city had few options.
“There was no other money left,” council member Lalloway said.
Haddad revived an earlier plan: FivePoint would put up the money to start park construction if the city would let him build twice as many homes as once envisioned – and if FivePoint, not the city, would be in charge of park construction.
After lengthy negotiations, the city approved Haddad’s plan, and FivePoint agreed to spend $172 million (since increased to about $250 million) on park construction.
“We knew we had to step up and help build this park,” Haddad said. “The last thing we wanted was to have the park not built; to have houses and a doughnut hole.”
Leaving his mark
Like most developers, Haddad has his critics.
He’s too forceful, some say. He’s too zealous in protecting his investors.
Some say FivePoint underpaid the city by at least $300 million, considering the value of the additional 4,600 homes. Former Mayor Larry Agran, who opposed the bailout plan, said the city could have found the money to build the park without FivePoint’s help.
But admirers praise Haddad’s vision, saying the Great Park gives him an opportunity to leave his own imprint on Orange County.
The Great Park Neighborhoods won’t be just a collection of homes, Haddad maintains.
It will be a diverse community where people feel connected. With 544 affordable units, it will be home to both the haves and have-nots, to young and old, to people from every corner of the world.
And it will have vibrant, diverse, urban districts. It’ll be reminiscent of a place he once called home, before the war – his boyhood Beirut.
“That’s my dream,” Haddad said.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7734 or jcollins@ocregister.com
