Building a Legacy.From his role in developing downtown L.A. to endless squabbles over Playa playa or pan or flat or dry lake Flat-bottomed depression that is periodically covered by water. Playas occur in interior desert basins and adjacent to coasts in arid and semiarid regions. Vista, Robert F. Maguire III has never been afraid to get involved in the big projects ROBERT F. Maguire III's influence on Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. has been substantial. He played a big role in shaping the downtown skyline, but these days he's spending much of his time at Playa Vista and in the Tri-Cities area, even though his office remains in downtown. He has been among the more colorful personalities on the local real estate scene, seemingly in endless litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. with his various partners over the years. Since June, he has been in arbitration talks with his blue chip partners in Playa Vista -- Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is one of the world's largest global investment banks. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street. Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley  To comply with Wikipedia's , the introduction of this article needs a complete rewrite. Dean Witter Dean Witter may refer to:
The dispute erupted when Maguire's partners in Playa Capital Co. tried to sell a piece of commercial property to a third party, without first getting approval from Maguire. On that issue, Maguire insists that he has first rights to develop the entire commercial portion of the 120-acre first phase of Playa Vista. Maguire is just as likely to dive into skirmishes that are only indirectly related to his property holdings. He grabbed media attention this year for his efforts to resolve the janitors' strike and for his vocal role in assuaging security fears in the days before the Democratic National Convention. He also has been active in efforts to lure high-tech companies to fill the void in the downtown office market. Such efforts are clearly at least partially motivated by self-interest. The bulk of Maguire's 3.5 million-square-foot, $850 million property portfolio is located downtown. That is set to increase to 4.5 million square feet thanks to coming office projects in Pasadena, Glendale, Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. and Playa Vista. Members of Maguire's family also have somewhat colorful stories. His entrepreneur father started Philippine Airlines Philippine Airlines, also known historically as Philippine Air Lines (PAL), is the national airline of the Philippines.[1] It is the first commercial airline in Asia and the oldest of those currently in operation. and later used his expertise and his private air force to assist Jewish refugees In the course of history, Jewish populations have been expelled or ostracised by various local authorities and have sought asylum from antisemitism numerous times. The articles History of antisemitism and Timeline of antisemitism contain more detailed chronology of anti-Jewish making their way to the new State of Israel in 1948. His grandfather served as a judge in the Nuremberg trials Nuremberg Trials surviving Nazi leaders put on trial (1946). [Eur. Hist.: Van Doren, 512] See : Justice and presided over the punishment of German war criminals. His son, Peter Maguire, is a historian on war crimes who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Nuremberg. Question: There's obviously tension between you and the folks at Playa Capital. Are all these months in arbitration affecting your working relationship? Answer: It's actually very good on an operational level. What I want to do is develop. That's the key. As long as we can go ahead and develop, we're perfectly happy. I have enormous respect for the principals involved and the ownership group at Playa Vista. Q: What's your role in Playa Vista right now? A: We're basically the developer of all the campus, which is an entertainment media campus. Q: Are you going to be doing all the commercial development? A: That's our intention, absolutely. Let me underline that. Q: What would that amount to? A: It's 3.6 million square feet. It is Fountain Park, which is about 430,000 square feet at Lincoln and Jefferson, then the main campus is 114 acres with 3.2 million square feet. It will be an entertainment and technology campus, it will have a complement of sound stages, post-production, all of the complementary services for a fully operating studio, as well as a really gorgeous campus with about a 10-acre park in the center. By contrast, MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. Plaza will have about 1.2 million square feet on 15 acres. Q: Looking downtown, do you think we're ever going to see another high-rise tower built there? A: Sure. I think what's happening now is the absorption downtown has been very good. We're basically full in all of our buildings. There are some buildings like Arco Plaza that have space and a couple of others. But the absorption and the increase in rents from 1996 to today, for example, has been very, very strong in spite of all the mergers and acquisitions. If we had not had the variety of mergers which have occurred, the overall vacancy downtown would definitely be in single digits. The improvements have been major and, in fact, it's done extraordinarily well. The space has been picked up by a variety of other users, including some very exciting ones -- kind of the Old Economy shift to the new users. Q: A lot of influential people -- Eli Broad Eli Broad (born June 6, 1933) a native of Detroit, Michigan is a Jewish American billionaire who lives in Los Angeles, California. His last name is pronounced as rhyming with road. Broad is well known for his philanthropy and extensive art collection. being the most obvious -- have really focused on downtown. But you're the biggest property owner. Does that give you a different role? A: Yeah. I think we really can make things happen. Eli's great and Eli does well, but we're kind of on the ground here and really trying to move things along, to get everybody involved in thinking how people can be more receptive to people working in tech companies. Q: Have you been doing much outreach in terms of bringing in Internet companies, high-tech companies? A: You bet. The Hiwire Space (an Internet company that recently moved downtown). Take a look at that space, it's really great. I think that the perception is changing, and I think it's going to start changing fast. The other reality is, there's a huge demand for office space and it's not getting served at all on the Westside. It's just so hard to do with the opposition and restriction on the Westside. Q: Who do you see moving into downtown? A: We're talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to a variety of Westside tenants that are terrific companies, but are looking at rents that are going to go through $60 a foot (per year) on the Westside. Q: Basically, you're appealing to the financial side? A: Yes. We're extraordinarily competitive relative to the Westside. It's at least a third or 40 percent under the Westside. Q: Do you talk much with your former partner, Jim Thomas Jim Thomas may refer to:
A: We talk frequently. You never know. Q: How did you get interested in development? A: I really couldn't tell you, since I was a poli-sci major at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX and an English minor, and I was going to go to law school. I guess my background is I come from a family that has a very liberal tradition. My grandfather was a lawyer and a judge at Nuremberg. My great-grandfather was a friend of Eugene Debbs, a real social activist. The tradition has been one that is very liberal in a classical sense, thinking about the arts and how society ought to work. Growing up all over the world has a real impact. You don't have an insular view of the world. I had two grandfathers who were very accomplished artists, and everybody in our family thinks in very graphic terms. Q: You've certainly been involved in some rather grand undertakings, and that seems to have accelerated this year with the janitors' strike and the Democratic Convention. Are you trying to establish some kind of legacy? A: I think that you can accomplish a large amount if you try. It's hard to measure. What can you do about the state of the city? Sometimes you get in the middle of it and you think, "Good Lord. Nothing." But I believe incrementally you can have an enormous impact on the shape of how the city works and whether it is an equitable place for people to live. I'm very interested in those issues. How do you make housing work, how do you deal with the problems of society? I think people basically enjoy living in the cities. I really do. And I think the plan for Playa Vista is incredibly interesting and complex. It's a fascinating plan. I think the same thing is happening downtown if you can move it and try to push it and nudge it in all directions. The big failing has been the lack of residential housing. Getting that changed is going to have a huge impact. Q: Speaking of impacts, you've had some hard knocks hard knocks pl.n. Informal The practical experiences of life, including hardships and disappointments: "He hadn't grown up in the school of hard knocks. through the years in your thrill-seeking activities. You hurt your neck pretty seriously, right? A: I smashed it bodysurfing Bodysurfing is the art and sport of riding a wave without the assistance of any buoyant device such as a surfboard or bodyboard. Bodysurfers typically equip themselves only with a pair of specialized swimfins that stay on during turbulent conditions and optimize propulsion. 30 years ago. I'm an old-time surfer. I smashed and hit the bottom with my head on the sand -- which is like concrete. I'm lucky I'm not paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. . Q: Are you doing much surfing these days? Or skiing? A: Yes I ski, I row -- I have a two-man dory. It's an old design that's real seaworthy sea·wor·thy adj. sea·wor·thi·er, sea·wor·thi·est Fit to traverse the seas: a seaworthy freighter; a seaworthy crew. , a 17-foot dory and it has sliding seats for two rowers. We're going to row from Catalina to Marina del Rey Del Rey may refer to:
Q: Is that safe? A: We have wetsuits, a submersible submersible, small, mobile undersea research vessel capable of functioning in the ocean depths. Development of a great variety of submersibles during the later 1950s and 1960s came about as a result of improved technology and in response to a demonstrated need for VHF radio. It's fine. Robert Maguire III Title: Managing Partner Company: MaguirePartners Born: Portland, Ore., 1935 Education: Bachelor's degree in political science, UCLA Most Admired Persons: Harvey Perloff, dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning; his grandmother, an accomplished artist Personal: Engaged; two sons, two daughters, four grandchildren |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion