As Bay Area real estate magnates go, George Marcus is probably the most famous. Hamid Moghadam of Prologis might give him a run. So might Carl Berg of Mission West and John A. Sobrato. But Marcus’ achievements are singular.

TMG Partners will kick off efforts to transform downtown Fremont into an energetic, pedestrian-friendly urban district with the groundbreaking next year on a 467-unit apartment project....Two blocks away, SummerHill Apartment Communities is building Paragon, a 301-unit community at Walnut Avenue and California Street.

After years in which rental projects in Silicon Valley were king, new-home construction has returned. Credit goes to a number of factors: low inventory, strong buyer demand and skyrocketing rents. “We’re back in growth mode,” said Robert Freed, president and CEO of SummerHill Homes.

Joe Head, president of SummerHill Homes Land Division plus five other industry leaders who have built and developed new homes and apartments for decades and also given back to their communities through philanthropy and volunteerism have been named to the California Homebuilding Foundation Hall of Fame.

Robert Freed, president and chief executive of SummerHill Homes and [SummerHill Apartment Communities] Urban Housing Group, has several apartment projects in the pipeline. Freed said he’s a supporter of affordable housing and doesn’t oppose a fee per se, but believes the current figure being proposed is too high. He is also concerned that the fee would apply to projects already in the pipeline.

A new housing development at 555 W. Campbell Ave. has seen a flurry of activity over the past few weeks as its occupants start to move in. In a few weeks, the Maravilla Townhomes will be unveiled to the community at large.

HQ: San Ramon.

Background: Freed joined SummerHill Homes as president and CEO in 2007. Before that, he worked for KB Home for 13 years and rose to senior vice president of investment strategy. He started out as a certified public accountant and held CFO positions at Davidon Homes and Blackhawk Corp.

Two real estate powerhouses are now under one roof in a unique partnership forged to serve the home-sales and multifamily rental markets.Newly formed SummerHill Housing Group is now the umbrella organization for award-winning Bay Area builder SummerHill Homes and West Coast apartment developer Urban Housing Group.

The plan for 28 homes that are proposed off Camino Ricardo was officially presented on October 1 to a joint session of the Planning Commission and Design Review Board.

Later this year, SummerHill Homes will complete a 110 single-family home project on 17 acres across from the Westfield Valley Fair Shopping Center in Santa Clara.

But the project would have finished long ago if not for challenges made by project opponents under the California Environmental Quality Act, said Robert Freed, SummerHill’s president and CEO.

“It’s now become an unwieldy, out-of-control monster,” Freed said of the legislation, which was passed in 1970.