CSQ and Forbix Host “Future of LA Real Estate” Panel
Kevin Demoff, Jovan Agee and Emil Khodorkovsky provided expert insight into opportunities and challenges facing the real estate industry in the City of Angels.
LOS ANGELES – Last week, C-Suite Media, publisher of C-Suite Quarterly magazine, and Los Angeles-based real estate lending and advisory firm Forbix, hosted a fireside discussion on the future of the real estate industry in Los Angeles. The discussion, led by expert panelists, included Kevin Demoff, COO of the Los Angeles Rams; Jovan Agee, former deputy treasurer of California and founder and CEO at Agee Global Solutions; and Emil Khodorkovsky, co-founder and CEO at Forbix. David Wurth, founder of C-Suite Media and CEO of CSQ, moderated the conversation.
The conversation quickly narrowed in on current hurdles and opportunities in both residential and commercial real estate, with all three panelists agreeing that better collaboration between government entities, developers and the business community would streamline development.
Jovan Agee, with his nearly two decades of experience in development, the public sector, political campaigns, and community engagement, advocated for industry coordination, organization and collective action.
“How do we create a trade organization or a trade association type entity, so that we can have the paid representation like the labor unions, so that we can have a collective muscle that may be better than we can be individually?” said Agee. “I think that’s what it’s going to take … There’s going to have to be a reimagining of what working together looks like for small and midsize businesses, and that includes real estate developers.”
Kevin Demoff shared how Hollywood Park, a pioneering 298-acre sports and entertainment development in Inglewood that includes SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams, will create an experience-driven real estate model that other area developers should emulate. He also spoke about the ongoing development of a Woodland Hills site, where a practice facility for the Rams is being built in a largely suburban neighborhood.
“How do you create the centers that are truly ‘work, live, play’?… There’s just so little of Los Angeles that’s master planned into a contained community,” said Demoff. “So, if you figure out how you can turn a place like The Grove and L.A. Live into one singular development, I think that’s always been our vision.”
Emil Khodorkovsky, with his expertise in real estate financing, construction and asset management, spoke to the impact high interest rates and affordability will have throughout the sector.
“As interest rates rise and even double and the costs are increasing everywhere… access to essential funding is being restricted, which prevents developers from creating valuable spaces. The obstacles for developers in Los Angeles need to be reduced for the full potential of this major city to be realized.”
The event was held at a private residence in Beverly Hills and was supported by sponsors and partners Forbix, ISAIA, Nobel and Miller Ink.
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