David O’Reilly and Jay Cross

With numbers like these, no wonder the Howard Hughes Corporation made this list. 

The company in 2022 showed earnings before taxes of $283 million for its master-
planned communities, with their average sales price per acre of $768,000 for residential land up 32 percent annually. Howard Hughes’ profits were up annually 39 percent last year. 

“We had a remarkable 2022 as we continued to see residents and businesses migrate out of more dense urban environments into our master-planned cities and communities,” David O’Reilly said. “That drove incredible home sales as well as incredible increases in the occupancy of our office portfolio.”

The company’s 2022 achievements included breaking ground on a 37,000-acre mixed-use, master-planned community near Phoenix that will include 100,000 homes and 55 million square feet of commercial space; its 60-acre Ward Village community in Honolulu notching sales of $1.1 billion for condo units and generating $677 million of net revenue from condo closings; and the opening of the Tin Building by Jean-Georges at New York City’s historic Seaport.

“We saw foot count double in 2021, and I think that’s largely a result of a fully activated program and concert series,” O’Reilly said, referring to the Tin Building and its rooftop venue Pier 17. “We’re starting to see a sense of place come together there as our restaurants are stabilizing and as we’re backfilling the tenancy in the historic district. We couldn’t be more excited for the future of the Seaport.”

The company even found success in the increasingly challenging office market, executing approximately 510,000 square feet of new or expanded leases. “I wouldn’t want to say with a broad brush that all offices are struggling right now,” O’Reilly said. “What we’ve seen is the bifurcation of product between best-in-class assets with premier locations that offer short commutes and quality of work life, and those that don’t.”

Given the company’s successful 2022, O’Reilly anticipates great things ahead in 2023: “Our balance sheet is robust, and with more than $1.3 billion in financings recently completed, we are uniquely positioned to advance new developments in our world-class communities, which continue to be ranked among the best places to live, work and play in the United States.”