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Disney Design and Development, one of America's most active and diverse developers, remains however reluctantly in the limelight.

Surprisingly publicity-shy, Disney Design and Development, Burbank, CA, finds it hard to avoid attention while being one of America's busiest and most creative development forces. Is Disney busy? A look at the drawing boards of this subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company reveals that dozens of concurrent projects are under way, ranging from conceptual design to construction, and from master planning to modernization.

Is Disney creative? While this is a matter of opinion, few real estate executives would argue the point. Relying in part on its name and in full on its track record. the group is able to engage governments and financial institutions in facilitating major endeavors, as much on the basis of their originality as economic promise. Many ventures defy standard classification, but that's O.K.: So does Disney.

"I wouldn't hold out what we do as typical of all mainline developers," begins Peter Rummell, president of Disney Design and Development (DDD), a collaborative unit which draws on distinct capabilities, technologies, and hybrid project types. The continually evolving team, he says, comprises "a real estate group, which has Florida, California, and Europe real estate in it; the Vacation Club, a vacation network we are building around the world; and Imagineering, which designs and builds our theme parks around the world."

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