Government official of the year: Rocky Delgadillo, assistant deputy mayor of the City of Los Angeles.

Although he is only an "assistant" deputy mayor for the City of Los Angeles, Rocky Delgadillo has been instrumental in negotiating major real estate coups for Mayor Richard Riordan, in cooperation with City Council offices. And that earns him the title of Government Real Estate Official of the Year, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.

"Rocky has been the primary dealmaker for the L.A. Business Team," says real estate consultant Larry Kosmont. "He's a key architect for the complicated and creative transactions that Riordan's Business Team has tried to forge with the private sector."

Most recently, the mayor's economic development office announced that it had helped Roy E. Disney's Burbank-based Shamrock Holdings California Inc. and Beverly Hills real estate developer/investor Regent Properties Inc. negotiate a deal to buy a former Hughes Aircraft Co. site in West Hills to develop a multi-tenant office park.

The joint venture team plans to renovate and/or redevelop the 30-acre northern portion of Hughes' former 89-acre missile division site in the northwest San Fernando Valley.

A few weeks earlier, in mid-May, the mayor's office helped United Parcel Service put together a plan to develop a major state-of-the-art package sorting/distribution facility on 26 acres that UPS owns just northeast of downtown L.A. - in a city revitalization zone.

"My experience is that (Delgadillo) is a person who can be relied on to get a deal done," comments John Molloy, executive director of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. "Rocky is a true real estate and development professional. The city is very fortunate to have his services."

Hollywood deal

Although the deal hasn't been officially announced yet, Delgadillo was instrumental in negotiating an agreement with Capitol Records that keeps the company in its landmark Hollywood building and allows for expansion on adjacent property.

He also participated in talks that led to the February 1996 announcement of a development agreement for a $100-million, mixed-use project at the long-vacant, 68-acre General Motors site in Panorama City.

"He's got the mindset. He's willing to get out there, really stick his neck out and get approval on these things," says Kosmont.

Yet with all these good-news announcements on the development front, Delgadillo says he is most proud of his work with the L.A. Business Team in the area of job creation and on the Minority Business Opportunities Program.

"I do enjoy the chase of the deal, but it's for the public good, because the companies I make deals with are the people who create jobs," Delgadillo explains. "The best thing about my job is the positive things it allows me to do for people who are less fortunate in life. I wake up in the morning and think, 'This is the best job in the world because I can help provide a job for someone who didn't have one.'"

He recalls an incident at a City Council meeting where he was seeking approval for a development project he had helped negotiate. A middle-aged female employee of the company involved in the deal approached him.

"I don't remember her name, but I'll never forget her face," Delgadillo says. "She said to me, 'I just wanted to thank you for saving my job.' That's the kind of thing that makes me want to get up in the morning. ... It's kind of corny, but that's why I'm here."

He says that before coming to the mayor's office, when he was working at Rebuild L.A., he was often frustrated by his inability to single-handedly make a difference.

"Only now am I getting a real sense of satisfaction," he says. "Now we have a staff of 50, and we're getting things done."

Kosmont says Delgadillo is successful largely because he has "assembled an awfully good staff" and because he keeps City Council offices involved in the projects in their districts.

"It's an easier atmosphere over there," Kosmont says. "They run that department more like the private sector."