Richard K Robbins

Rich Robbins is not your Donald Trump-style real estate mogul. The transplanted New Yorker doesn't have his name on his company or bask in publicity. Robbins built four corporate campuses along the I-80 corridor in the East Bay. He also has a dream list of bio- and high-tech tenants occupying more than 3 million square feet of space in more than two dozen buildings. His Wareham Development firm, based in San Rafael near where Robbins lives, specializes in turning old factories and abandoned warehouses into mixed- use developments. Robbins grew up in Jamaica Plains, N.Y., the son of an entrepreneur who manufactured everything from decorative refrigerator magnets to wooden spoons at factories in Hong Kong and Brooklyn. During college -- Bucknell as an undergrad, Wharton for an MBA -- he made money on the side renovating brownstones, and then went to work for a very successful real estate and insurance executive. In 1975, Robbins decided to strike out on his own and moved to California. In 1977, he legally converted the first industrial building in the Bay Area into artists' lofts and studio residences. Over the past two decades, Robbins has focused primarily on serving the burgeoning Berkeley biotech businesses, starting with Cetus and Chiron and attracting university researchers with an entrepreneurial streak.