Larry Mizel
Larry Mizel has a move-out date at the homebuilder he started in the early 1970s.
In a statement issued Wednesday, he and Richmond American Homes CEO David Mandarich announced they would leave the company at the end of the year.
Mizel was executive chairman of MDC Holdings, parent company to well-known homebuilder Richmond American Homes. He sold the company to Japanese developer Sekisui House earlier this year for nearly $5 billion.
A spokesman for MDC declined to answer questions or make Mizel or Mandarich available for an interview.
Mizel, originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, attended law school at the University of Denver. Before even receiving his degree, the developer was off and running with real estate projects around town. At age 26, he was already “widely known in the Denver Metropolitan Area … for his accomplishments in apartment development and land syndication,” per an Intermountain Jewish News article from 1968.
As the years went by and more and more homes went up, Mizel, now in his 80es, became deeply involved in a variety of political and philanthropic causes.
He founded the Mizel Museum in east Denver in 1982. The facility “addresses today’s social justice issues through the lens of Jewish history and values,” according to its website. He also started Denver’s Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab and co-founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles and the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem.
Mizel has also been a major political donor, giving $830,000 to federal candidates in the 2022 election cycle, according to a Colorado Sun analysis. He generally supported conservative candidates and causes but was the most bipartisan of Colorado’s top 10 donors that cycle, the Sun found. He was a co-chair of Gov. Jared Polis’ 2023 inaugural committee.
David Mandarich
Mandarich, meanwhile, has been with MDC since 1977. He became CEO of the company in 2020 after Mizel relinquished that role. Before then, he was COO and president of the firm.
The pair navigated some of real estate’s toughest markets. In 1990, in the midst of an economic downturn, the stock was worth less than a dime, a 99 percent drop from four years prior. It was one of the cheapest share prices on the New York Stock Exchange.
But 34 years later, the company is still around, having sold to Sekisui House for $63 a share in April.
“In our remarkable journey, marked by the construction of over 240,000 homes, we’ve emerged as a top 10 homebuilder in the United States. Our ability to navigate through varying housing market cycles while maintaining business resilience speaks to our strategic prowess, and has led not only to the creation of significant shareholder value, but also to an industry-leading dividend yield for our shareholders,” Mizel said in a statement in January about the deal.
Larry Mizel
Larry Mizel has a move-out date at the homebuilder he started in the early 1970s.
In a statement issued Wednesday, he and Richmond American Homes CEO David Mandarich announced they would leave the company at the end of the year.
Mizel was executive chairman of MDC Holdings, parent company to well-known homebuilder Richmond American Homes. He sold the company to Japanese developer Sekisui House earlier this year for nearly $5 billion.
A spokesman for MDC declined to answer questions or make Mizel or Mandarich available for an interview.
Mizel, originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, attended law school at the University of Denver. Before even receiving his degree, the developer was off and running with real estate projects around town. At age 26, he was already “widely known in the Denver Metropolitan Area … for his accomplishments in apartment development and land syndication,” per an Intermountain Jewish News article from 1968.
As the years went by and more and more homes went up, Mizel, now in his 80es, became deeply involved in a variety of political and philanthropic causes.
He founded the Mizel Museum in east Denver in 1982. The facility “addresses today’s social justice issues through the lens of Jewish history and values,” according to its website. He also started Denver’s Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab and co-founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles and the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem.
Mizel has also been a major political donor, giving $830,000 to federal candidates in the 2022 election cycle, according to a Colorado Sun analysis. He generally supported conservative candidates and causes but was the most bipartisan of Colorado’s top 10 donors that cycle, the Sun found. He was a co-chair of Gov. Jared Polis’ 2023 inaugural committee.
David Mandarich
Mandarich, meanwhile, has been with MDC since 1977. He became CEO of the company in 2020 after Mizel relinquished that role. Before then, he was COO and president of the firm.
The pair navigated some of real estate’s toughest markets. In 1990, in the midst of an economic downturn, the stock was worth less than a dime, a 99 percent drop from four years prior. It was one of the cheapest share prices on the New York Stock Exchange.
But 34 years later, the company is still around, having sold to Sekisui House for $63 a share in April.
“In our remarkable journey, marked by the construction of over 240,000 homes, we’ve emerged as a top 10 homebuilder in the United States. Our ability to navigate through varying housing market cycles while maintaining business resilience speaks to our strategic prowess, and has led not only to the creation of significant shareholder value, but also to an industry-leading dividend yield for our shareholders,” Mizel said in a statement in January about the deal.
