Lennar Bets on Ex-Officer Housing ‘Party’ as California Rebounds

Emile Haddad, a former Lennar Corp. executive, sold 12,000 acres in California for a $277 million profit at the housing market’s peak four years ago. He and his partners then reacquired it at half the price in 2009. Now, Haddad says, it’s time to build.

Haddad, chief executive officer of FivePoint Communities Inc., is developing four new master-planned communities with a combined 45,000 residences, two in the Los Angeles area and two in San Francisco. Construction of the first homes is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year. Investors including Lennar, Michael S. Dell’s MSD Capital LP, Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood Development Co. and Rockpoint Group LLC are banking on the projects as the state emerges from a five-year housing bust.