Weighing The Future Of Multifamily And Mixed-Use Lifestyles At Bisnow's LA Event
As a plethora of mixed-use projects continue to be built all over LA, attendees at Bisnow's LA Multifamily and Mixed-Use event on Wednesday heard ideas and predictions about what the future may hold and whether the trend will continue.
More than 500 commercial real estate pros converged on the Montage Beverly Hills for the meeting.
Sklar Kirsh founding partner Andrew Kirsh (second from left) moderated the panel discussing mixed-use as a new living experience, which included The Ratkovich Co's COO Clare DeBriere; CityLife Parking's CEO Scott Gable; MVE + Partners VP Richard Castillo; and Champion Real Estate Co CEO Robert Champion.
Clare (speaking with Andrew) talked about the benefits of shared parking and gave details about The Bloc, which includes a hotel, a flagship Macy's and other retailers, restaurants and an office building that involves a renovation of more than 2M SF on a city block in DTLA.
Complexities associated with mixed-use projects are part of the fun for architects because of all that goes into the process to make it a functional design, Richard (pictured with Andrew) said.
Scott discussed the advantages of automated parking, which helps developers get the most use out of their parking space, he says.
Andrew (pictured with Clare and Robert) asked the panelists what they think about two possible initiatives that could pose a moratorium on development that involves asking city planners for any type of variance or zoning changes.
Robert predicted larger projects could be discouraged in LA under such initiatives. As a result, he said he and other developers might have to focus on smaller projects that are more "neighborhood-oriented as opposed to urban-oriented."
