Lesser developed Barrington Plaza, a 712 apartment and commercial FHA Urban Renewal project in West Los Angeles.

On graduation, he turned down a supervisory job offer from the magazine company, instead joining his father's women's clothing manufacturing small business.

A couple of years later he sold it and purchased a group of gas stations, which later merged with the Sunset Oil Company, where he served briefly as vice-president until his retirement aged 36.

[1] Later in 1952, he and other family members formed Louis Lesser Enterprises, Ltd., a partnership, which bought and developed commercial, residential, and industrial real estate.

[9] He developed an industrial center near the new Los Angeles International Airport in 1956-1957, leasing buildings worth $9 million.

[14] It was completed in 1962, and comprised 712 apartments in one 27 and two 17 story buildings, making it both the largest,[15] and the tallest,[16] FHA Urban Renewal Project west of the Mississippi.

The original application for a $14 million Federal Housing Administration loan was one of the largest FHA insurance commitments ever filed.