It has been announced that Bill Halford, the CEO of Bixby Land Co., died on February 26, 2018, at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after battling a certain illness. Bixby Land Co. is based in Newport Beach and is one of the most respected companies of its kind in Southern California. Halford became the company’s CEO in 2006 and he was responsible for turning the century-old family-owned company into a real estate operator, developer, and investor. Halford was just 58 years old. Bixby Land credits Halford with achieving their vision of pioneering exceptional value.
Bixby Land Company is defined by innovative thinking, disciplined action and performance. We acquire, redevelop and operate industrial, office, and R&D properties in select Western U.S. markets. Driven by results, backed by experience and mindful of our century-old legacy, we are committed to building value in the assets we own and for the investors we serve.
Halford’s leadership put the executive team in place and enabled the strategic direction and culture of the company to change for the better. Before he took over as CEO, the company owned a random selection of office, industrial, and retail properties. He transformed this into a strong portfolio of industrial and office properties in very select markets.
It took Halford just 30 months to acquire industrial properties to the value of $450 million. He was respected for his innovative mind, particularly in terms of creative office spaces. Indeed, he worked on 30 different creative office buildings in the state and the Pacific Northwest. Only recently, he acquired $400 million worth of industrial properties by working with AXA Investment Managers.
Taking an active, long-term approach, AXA Investment Managers works with its clients today to provide the solutions they need to help secure a better tomorrow for their investments, while creating a positive change for the world in which we all live.
Bill’s team respected him for his vision and for this strong ability to provide motivation to people, encouraging them to work beyond what they believed to be their limits. Unfortunately, only a week after finalizing the AXA partnership deal, the popular CEO passed away.
Bill’s vision and ability to motivate people to perform at a level higher than they may have thought possible was instrumental in establishing the investment performance and integrated services platform that today defines Bixby Land Company. His leadership has made an immense impact on the company and has left it positioned for future success.
Bixby Land has had a presence in Orange County since the middle of the 19th century. Halford graduated from UC Santa Barbara, after which he took on positions in Silicon Valley, working for IBM and Xerox. He then ventured into commercial real estate by joining the Transpacific Development Co. He joined Irvine Co. in 1994, presiding over their division of office properties. He also joined Bixby Land Co in 1994, when he was a board director.
He became the 8th president and CEO of Bixby in 2006 when he left Irvine Co., while at the same time sitting on the advisory board of UC Berkeley’s Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics. He has also received numerous awards and a lot of recognition for his creative, energetic, passionate leadership, inspiration, and friendship. He will be greatly missed in Orange County and in the world of commercial real estate as a whole. No information has been provided as of yet as to who will be replacing Bill Halford at Bixby Land Co. either in the interim or as a permanent solution, nor is there any clarity on how this will affect ongoing deals.
