Expert: Private Sector Has to Step Up

LOS ANGELES-“When California suffers, it affects the world, as it’s the 9^th largest economy,” said John Chiang, California State Controller and morning keynote speaker of the Commercial Real Estate Women California Conference “The Next Wave in California Commercial Real Estate” held recently here at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live. More than 130 professionals in commercial real estate attended the conference which provided a forum for networking and learning about the latest trends in commercial real estate.

The conference kicked off with a surprise morning keynote speaker, Ted Tanner, EVP of real estate development with AEG Worldwide, who delivered an exciting presentation on the much anticipated development of the Farmer’s Field stadium project, a 14-acre site that is expected to start development by 2017, and how L.A. Live persevered through the financial crisis to become one of the largest entertainment destinations in the U.S.

Tanner said that L.A. Live was developed in the midst of 9/11 and attributes its success to not being afraid to take risks. The pay off, he explained, is that L.A. Live has been fully leased since its opening in 2008. This year, they expect 15 million people on the campus, making it the best year yet for L.A. Live.

“It’s no accident L.A. Live is located at the heart of the region where eight freeways come together,” said Tanner. “We wanted to create a real destination,” he continued.

As development continues to revitalize the downtown region, Tanner foresees less involvement with the city going forward. “The private sector is just going to have to step up,” he said. Without the redevelopment agencies, he says it should be interesting to see how the public and private sector collaborate on projects. “We’re going to have to get creative.”

Following Tanner’s keynote address, Chiang discussed California’s current financial status and warned that if California doesn’t restructure healthcare to focus more on health and wellness, fix the tax system so it reflects the economic change, and help to get small businesses off the ground, we will fail to see any improvement within the state budget.

“Why add band-aids to a structure that’s old and broken?” he said. “We need to fix the system throughout to help people get off public assistance, and provide job training and education.” Chiang also emphasized the importance of the private/public sector coming together in order for California and the US to recover economically.

Subsequent to the morning keynotes, Sandra Yavitz of Yavitz Cos., moderated, “Hang Ten…Catch the Wave Panel Discussion,” which featured panelist Sandra Jacobson, partner with Allan Matkins, Stephen Kachani, VP of sales and marketing with Loan Oak Fund, Victoria Deise Wilson, senior development manager with the Ratkovich Co., and Michael Gottlieb with Advanced Green Solutions. The panelists weighed in on subjects such as sustainability in real estate development; financing in today’s economic market; cities favoring retail space over office space; split roll tax and the global effect on local development.

The closing keynote speaker, Darla Longo, vice chairman and managing director of CB Richard Ellis, discussed her experience working as one of the few women executives in industrial real estate and her take on where the industrial real estate market is headed.

“California has more manufacturing jobs than any city in the US,” says Longo. She explained that manufacturing is coming back to the US due to quality control issues and the increase of wages in China. She also mentioned that as the rise in gas prices continue, and transport being the number one cost in manufacturing, the focus on a local economy will drive industrial real estate development back to the US, and Los Angeles in particular.

Longo went on to state she is “cautiously optimistic” about the resurgence of CMBS; the small businessman needing to come back to stimulate the economy; the importance of women becoming mentors, and advised that in order to succeed as a woman in a male-dominated industry such as industrial real estate, you need to not “go up against the wall, but think of another way around it.”