Connect L.A.: A Roundup of Big Deals

At Connect Los Angeles, we heard about a lot of major deals that took place in the Downtown Los Angeles commercial real estate industry. It was refreshing to hear about deals getting done after a rough economic period.

Ed Sasche, an executive managing director at Kennedy Wilson, revealed that there are about 25 mixed-use projects in L.A. that his firm is working on, concentrating on the retail portion of the assets.

Kitty Wallace, a senior vice president at Colliers International, sold a 25-unit apartment building in Santa Monica for more than $700 per square foot, showing how strong the Westside continues to perform.

Some commercial real estate professionals are too busy. Cliff Carnes, president and chief production officer at Walker & Dunlop, said: “There’s lots of opportunities for deals, but we don’t have time.”

It looks like, from our observations, that Los Angeles is not going to be having a commercial real estate depression any time soon.