LOS ANGELES—At the annual Marcus & MillichapSouthern California Multifamily Forum, developers on the“Anything But 90210” panel, which discussedemerging markets in California, explained that often, they lookedfor projects with a “story.” Jim Andersen, SVP atTrammell Crow Co.; Mark Crawford,principal at Crawford Park Financial; BillMontgomery, president of acquisitions and investment atSares-Regis Group; ChadSanderson, principal of business development andacquisitions at Bascom Group; KevinWilch, business development executive at SearsHolding Co.; and Joel Zide, principal atMashcole Property Management Inc. sat on theexpert panel to discuss the up-an-coming geographic markets onwhich they are finding the most projects.

“We are always looking for the best institutional story,” saidAndersen on the panel, noting that infrastructure,neighborhood and proximity to public transit are among the keycharacteristics. “Lenders are getting more sophisticated about whatproperty characteristics drive higher rents.” He used the exampleof a recent lender asking about the walkability score of aproperty, and getting excited to hear that it was high.

The group of developers had projects in cities and submarketsthroughout the West Coast, noting Woodland Hills, Downtown L.A.,Baldwin Hills, Las Vegas and Phoenix as some of the major hubs;however, rather than focus on geographic location, each pointed outthat the surrounding amenities were the most important in decidingif a project was a good investment. Among those listed, proximityto public transit and job centers was most key to pinpointing asuccessful investment.