Local real estate legend Ronald J. Benach died on May 6 at age 90, following a 60-plus-year homebuilding career which saw the creation of more than 50,000 Chicagoland homes. During his lifetime, he founded and oversaw several successful development companies.
Benach entered the business in the 1950s, shortly after moving to Chicago. Growing up in Cleveland, Benach was always interested in real estate — his father was an investor — and he started out selling houses. Before long, though, Benach switched to development. In 1962, he started his first company, 3-H Building Corporation, with his friend Stewart Grill. Headquartered in Schaumburg, they built affordable single-family homes and soon were delivering more than 1,000 units a year. The successful company was sold to U.S. Homes in 1972.
Following that venture, Benach founded the first iteration of Lexington Homes, which grew to become the largest homebuilder by volume in Chicago before its sale to Westinghouse in 1989. Then Benach started Concord Homes, another successful private homebuilder, which was sold to Lennar in 2002.
In 2006, Bencach founded Lexington Homes once again: a second iteration of his old firm. Specializing in rowhomes and luxury single-family home communities, it is now the largest private homebuilding company in Chicagoland. Working alongside his son Jeff Benach, Ronald J. Benach served as the Lexington Homes chairman until his death.
“The number of people who have lived in a home that he helped build runs into the six figures, and it never stops to amaze me when I run into someone who will say ‘I once lived in a Concord/Lexington home,’ Jeff Benach said in a press release. “Yet he always said, ‘It’s not how many homes we build that matters. It’s how well we build each one.’”
Benach was inducted into the Chicago Association of REALTORS® Hall of Fame in 2002, which he considered one of the greatest honors of his career. He was also a long-time member of various local homebuilding organizations, including the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago.
Outside of work, Benach split his time between Chicago and Boca Raton, Florida. A service was held in Boca Raton and another is planned for family and friends in Chicago. Donations in his honor can be made to the organization Magen David Adom.