Koll Joins Forces With Irvine Home Builder

NEWPORT BEACH — Donald M. Koll, who controls a growing national real estate power, said Tuesday that his company has forged a partnership with an old-line Southern California home builder that will likely construct hundreds of houses in the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

The joint venture with Irvine-based Akins Cos. creates a major residential real estate force that plans to build thousands of homes worldwide. The new entity, called Koll/Akins, will develop a 580-lot project in Escondido and will consider projects in Mexico and Asia, said Koll, chairman of both Koll and Koll/Akins.

Koll/Akins also is expected to be master developer for 3,300 homes planned on Koll’s controversial Bolsa Chica property. The Huntington Beach project site is part of the 1,600-acre Bolsa Chica wetlands, the largest unprotected stretch of coastal marshland south of San Francisco.

The project cleared a major local hurdle last week when the county approved it and earmarked 1,100 Bolsa Chica acres as protected wetlands, leaving Koll with 380 acres to develop. If federal and state agencies give a green light to the housing project, building could begin in late 1996.

The Bolsa Chica development has provoked controversy because the wetlands are a major resting place for migratory birds and attract thousands of nature lovers who stroll the grounds.

Longtime business peers, Koll and brothers Bruce and Carl Akins have spoken often in past years about merging their talents, said Bruce K. Akins, who will serve as president of Koll/Akins. Both companies have survived severe real estate downturns by forming partnerships with large institutions that have access to capital.

“It’s a very interesting marriage,” said Ken Agid, a real estate consultant in Irvine. “These two have never done business before, but Akins understands master-planned communities, and they bring a new level of expertise to Koll.”

The real estate firm Koll founded in 1962--now simply called Koll--has mushroomed into a group of interconnecting real estate companies in Newport Beach that build skyscrapers, manage landmark buildings and undertake commercial real estate projects abroad.

The privately held company used its publicly traded subsidiary, Koll Real Estate Group, to form the joint venture with Akins Cos.

The move is the second major push into residential real estate for Donald Koll in the past six months. Koll’s firm acquired prominent Orange County home builder Kathryn Thompson Co. for about $7.5 million in October.

“We are in the real estate services business, and we have to service our clients’ business needs, including residential real estate,” Koll said. “Right now, the real estate industry is changing very rapidly, and we think this venture will be a good partnership.”

Akins, one of Southern California’s larger home builders, sold 640 homes last year and has constructed more than 9,000 homes in the Southland, among them residences in Mission Viejo and Tustin. It is building more than 100 homes in its Ridgemoor planned community in Rowland Heights.

The 49-year-old company, started by Ed Akins and run by his sons, survived the real estate recession by finding joint-venture partners and hiring itself out for a flat fee to build housing tracts for other developers. The privately held company had revenue of $95.4 million last year.

“This venture with Koll would help Akins because through these dark days they’ve been scrambling for financial partners and, with Koll, they have found a strong one,” said Alfred Gobar, a real estate consultant in Brea.

Koll/Akins will eventually look to Wall Street for financing, Bruce Akins said. That access will enable the new partnership to compete with larger home builders like Kaufman & Broad in Los Angeles.