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Louis Lesser (June 15, 1916 – January 29, 2013) was an American businessman. He developed property across the United States, predominantly around the Los Angeles area; he also purchased and managed property. Lesser developed Barrington Plaza, a 712 apartment and commercial FHA Urban Renewal project in West Los Angeles.


Early life

Lesser was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, to a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family. He attended
Hollywood High School Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Histo ...
and was very successful at making extra money selling magazines. On graduation, he turned down a supervisory job offer from the magazine company, instead joining his father's women's clothing manufacturing small business.


Business career


Early career

He expanded his father's clothing business by selling to major retailers. He left the business in 1945, when he was drafted into the army. In 1947, after his military discharge, he purchased Dr. Forbes Farms, a fruit producer. A couple of years later he sold it and purchased a group of gas stations, which later merged with the Sunset Oil Company, where he served briefly as vice-president until his retirement aged 36. An irrepressible optimist, he was attracted to real estate development, and joined Don Metz in the development of Torrance Gardens, a single family residential
real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...
in
Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...
consisting of 437 houses.


Louis Lesser Enterprises. Ltd.

His retirement in 1952 lasted less than a year. Later in 1952, he and other family members formed Louis Lesser Enterprises, Ltd., a partnership, which bought and developed commercial, residential, and industrial real estate. It incorporated in 1960/61, in preparation for a $5 million initial public offering in 1962/63. By that time, Lesser estimated that he had developed $500 million of real estate across nine states and that Louis Lesser Enterprises, Ltd had grown its assets from $200,000 to $60 million. Lesser also developed housing for military personnel, involving over 3,000 units at 14 military installations across the US, with a total construction value of $35 million, with funding under the Capehart Act. He developed an industrial center near the new
Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the ...
in 1956-1957, leasing buildings worth $9 million. He began development of another $3 million extension to a site in San Diego in 1959, also to be leased to the company. He purchased the Beckman Instrument facility in Newport Beach for $2.5 million in 1958, and leased it to the
Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other ...
. In 1959, Louis Lesser Enterprises, Ltd and Ben Deane became partners in the development of Barrington Plaza. In June 1961, Deane sold his 50% interest to the partnership which became the sole order owner. It was completed in 1962, and comprised 712 apartments in one 27 and two 17 story buildings, making it both the largest, and the tallest, FHA Urban Renewal Project west of the Mississippi. The original application for a $14 million Federal Housing Administration loan was one of the largest FHA insurance commitments ever filed. Along with San Diego developer
Irvin Kahn Irvin J. Kahn (1916–1973) was an American attorney and real estate developer who played a major role in the expansion of the City of San Diego in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He received frequent press coverage for his ongoing role in developing ...
, in 1960 he developed two motels on the Shelter Island reclamation project costing $5.7 million. He participated the 1961
Casa Conejo Casa Conejo (; Spanish for "Rabbit House") is an unincorporated county island in Newbury Park, Ventura County, California, United States. It was the first planned community in Newbury Park and began building in 1960. When the city of Thousand O ...
development, in the Conejo Valley, and was the largest developer there, building 1,000 homes. In association with Irvin Kahn, and others, Lesser was heavily involved in developing bowling complexes in California, with the Los Angeles Times suggesting that he was the most active developer in this area by 1962. He initiated a 22-story, 236 unit apartment structure named "Lesser Towers", in 1962, when it was budgeted to cost $7 million. Development setbacks caused by litigation caused the project to stand idle in the early stages of construction for more than three years. In 1965, a new builder was brought in to finish development. Lesser purchased the Phillips Ranch near Pomona in 1964 for $6 million. At 2,241 acres, it was one of the largest parcels of undeveloped land in Los Angeles County. He intended to build 10,000 homes over five years, with planning to be completed by the end of the year. Following two years of losses, Lesser resigned as chairman of Louis Lesser Enterprises in 1967 and accepted a bailout from Henry Salvatori, at which point the company was renamed Western Orbis Company.


Personal life

He married Jeanne Mikels in 1937 and they remained married until her death in 2006. They had four children, Craig, Terese (Teri), Kathy and Francine (Frankie). Lesser died on January 29, 2013.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesser, Louis 1916 births 2013 deaths American real estate businesspeople American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Businesspeople from Los Angeles Land owners from California History of Los Angeles County, California Jewish American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American Jews