Mark Mueller

Orange County, CA

Community Editor at Orange County Business Journal

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Articles

OC Insider: Hilbert Hits the Stage

6 days ago | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

Real estate exec Mark Hilbert is best known locally for his prolific collection of Golden State art, large selections of which can be seen at Chapman University’s newly expanded Hilbert Museum of California Art, and which have graced our annual OC500 publication for years. Hilbert’s also an art model. Bradford Salamon’s “Monday at the Crab Cooker,” part of the museum’s collection, features Hilbert, curator Gordon McClelland and the artist eating at the iconic Newport Beach restaurant.
OC Insider: Yachts & Ziggurats

3 weeks ago | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

A local exec’s yacht collection took center stage at the recently-concluded Newport Beach International Boat Show at Lido Marina Village, Business Journal’s Emily Santiago-Molina reports. James Glidewell, founder and owner of Newport Beach dental implant and products maker Glidewell had a pair of vessels on sale at this month’s multi-day event, asking close to $31 million on a combined basis. The larger of the two boats, the 191-foot Unbridled, was seeking just under $23 million.
OC Insider: Entrepreneur Sizzle

1 month ago | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta made his biggest local splash in 2022 when he paid $650 million for the Montage Laguna Beach, but the Texas billionaire’s deal-making has involved others in the area, as a recent meal at Fashion Island’s Ocean 48 highlighted. The upscale steakhouse and seafood restaurant was started by Jeff and Mike Mastro, co-founders of the Mastro’s restaurant chain, which they sold in 2007 to a private equity firm.
OC Insider: Investment Stars

1 month ago | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

“Index Funds: The 12-step Recovery Program for Active Investors,” a documentary released several years ago by Mark Hebner, owner of Irvine-based Index Fund Advisors Inc., counts about 600,000 views on YouTube.
OC Insider: Coastal Connections

2 months ago | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

Former Newport Beach Mayor Noah Blom hasn’t given up the restaurateur itch, with a long-awaited spot now moving ahead in his hometown, along Coast Highway. Plans for ARC Carne & Cantina this month were filed with the city. The new concept, located at 2902 W. Coast Highway, “brings together classic Latin flavors, Argentinian & American-style steaks, all with a classic Spanish flare,” according to a letter sent to the city.
OC Insider: School Ties

2 months ago | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner, one of the world’s wealthiest people with a fortune estimated close to $15 billion, is boosting his Orange County ties. The German software company (NYSE: SAP) on March 13 announced a $2 million gift to the Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences at UCI.
OC Insider: Cool Charges

2 months ago | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

Delivery vans from Rivian (Nasdaq: RIVN) are getting a little cooler. The Irvine EV maker in 2019 inked a deal with Amazon to make electric-powered vans for the ecommerce giant, with an initial goal of making 100,000 vehicles. Ultimately, about 20,000 van deliveries were made, before an exclusivity agreement ended. Last month, the automaker announced that its “Rivian Commercial Vehicles” would be available for all businesses, for fleets of any size. The cost is about $80,000 per vehicle.
OC Insider: Lido House’s Next Act

Mar 10, 2025 | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

Plenty of developers hold blow-out grand opening events. Few do blow-up demolition events as well as Bob Olson. The R.D. Olson Development founder last week marked the beginning of the expansion of Newport Beach’s Lido House with an event highlighted by the demolition of a 1950s era firehouse next door to his 130-room boutique hotel, which opened in 2018 at the site of the former Newport Beach City Hall.
OC Insider: Retail Report

Mar 3, 2025 | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

Irvine Spectrum Center is getting bigger as it marks its 30th anniversary. And it’s getting taller. The nearly 1.2-million-square-foot center, which opened in 1995 and last year ranked No. 6 among OC’s largest shopping centers by taxable sales, with $601M in sales (up 5% year over year), has in recent months announced a bevy of new retail and restaurant additions slated for 2025. Notable new additions on tap: a new Rivian showroom, located near the mall’s Cheesecake Factory.
OC Insider: Bad & Good Karma(n)

Feb 24, 2025 | ocbj.com | Mark Mueller

Last year, the City of Irvine commissioned CBRE to conduct an appraisal of vacant, developable land in the area around John Wayne Airport known as the IBC, or Irvine Business Complex. The brokerage’s value of such property: $4.2M an acre, with industrial development representing the highest and best use for the IBC land. That estimated value was down from an all-time high of $4.7M an acre, set in 2023, according to CBRE.