W. William “Bill” Gaboury, who helped build Shea Properties into a major commercial real estate company, died March 28. He was 72.
Gaboury joined Shea in 1984 when the company was better known for its homebuilding efforts through its sister company Shea Homes. The commercial division Gaboury headed then had three full-time employees and controlled properties worth $147 million.
When he left Shea in 2005, the company had 250 employees and $2 billion in commercial real estate assets including 7,000 apartments and 4.4 million square feet of office space in California and Colorado. Among the Orange County projects Gaboury oversaw were City Lights and Vantis in Aliso Viejo, Ocean Ranch Village and Seabrook Apartments in Laguna Niguel
Gaboury was known for his friendly managerial style that proved valuable in real estate’s notoriously volatile cycles.