Roger C Hobbs

They fled Southern California's recession in 1991, one to the ranges of Montana, the other to the bustle of a Mexico promising to explode with opportunity under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Now they're back. Orange County real estate powerhouses Brandon Birtcher and Roger C. Hobbs have joined forces under the Birtcher family's banner to re-enter the cutthroat home-building business as B.Birtcher/R.Hobbs Communities.

They fled Southern California's recession in 1991, one to the ranges of Montana, the other to the bustle of a Mexico promising to explode with opportunity under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Now they're back. Orange County real estate powerhouses Brandon Birtcher and Roger C. Hobbs have joined forces under the Birtcher family's banner to re-enter the cutthroat home-building business as B.Birtcher/R.Hobbs Communities.

Chapman University has announced plans for a new institute on its Orange campus to study emerging real estate trends, funded with a $10-million endowment from local developer Roger C. Hobbs. The Roger C. Hobbs Institute for Real Estate, Law and Environmental Studies will seek to place the building trade in context with issues that affect it, said Hobbs, who will also teach at the institute. "We're really talking about things that past developers said they didn't have to deal with," he said.

Direct capital investment in the United States by the Japanese and the potential for joint-venture relationships by Japanese and American real estate investors, developers and builders will be the focus of the second annual Pacific Basin Development Conference at the Wailea Resort on Maui, Hawaii, Aug. 17-20.

As part of a restructuring that echoes a continuing consolidation in the local real estate market, the Japanese owners of Birtcher Real Estate Ltd. have renamed the firm MBK Real Estate Ltd. and moved it from Laguna Niguel to Irvine. Started as a small Santa Ana home builder by Fayette E. Birtcher in 1939, Birtcher grew to become one of the largest commercial builders on the West Coast.

Even in the best of times, home builders always are capable of reining in their optimism, so when one Southland builder says that he looks forward to 1986 with "controlled optimism," he is running true to form. James W.

KEY TO RESIDENTIAL BUILDERS ROSTER--The name of each company is followed by its headquarters city and then by its principal officer. Sales figures are given for 1991 and have been confined to residential sales in Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Sales projections are for anticipated residential sales in the above-mentioned counties for 1992.

Key to Home Builder Roster The name of each company is followed by its headquarters city and then by its principal officer. Sales figures are given for 1989, and have been limited to residential sales in Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. Sales projections are for anticipated residential sales in the above-mentioned counties for 1990.

KEY TO RESIDENTIAL BUILDERS ROSTER--The name of each company is followed by its headquarters city and then by its principal officer. Sales figures are given for 1990 and have been confined to residential sales in Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Sales projections are for anticipated residential sales in the above-mentioned counties for 1991.