John C. Cushman III.

CUSHMAN REALTY CORP.

Broker John C. Cushman III has worked hard over the years to identify himself with downtown Los Angeles. Yet his most notable activities of the past year have taken place mostly outside of California.

The president and CEO of Cushman Realty Corp. expanded his nine-office brokerage by opening offices in New York City and Mexico City. The latter office is a joint venture with the Koll Co.

That venture is called Koll/Cushman Realty Mexico, and it offers tenant representation, as well as business-consulting services.

In Rochester, N.Y., Cushman negotiated a 400,000-square-foot, built-to-suit for Bausch & Lomb Inc., the medical supplies maker.

And he has entered consulting with a full head of steam by launching Cushman Information Systems, a database system tailored to help national companies keep tabs on corporate real estate.

Energy, flamboyance and canniness are all characteristics of the New Jersey native, who founded Cushman Realty in 1978 after an unsuccessful attempt to gain control of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., the national brokerage firm founded by his grandfather and great uncle in 1917.

Cushman continues to work 14-hour days. His non-real estate moments are spent as president of the Zaca Mesa winery in Santa Ynez; as president of the Museum of Contemporary Art; and as president of the Western Region of the Boy Scouts of America.

While his scope of activities ranges far beyond downtown L.A. these days, Cushman remains an active player and acute observer of the downtown market. Speaking at a downtown meeting in late May, he called the oversupply of sublease space, currently 1.7 million square feet, a major obstacle to downtown L.A.'s recovery.

Sublessors "act as a whipping post in the market, driving direct (lease) rates down," he says. "Until this huge inventory of sublease space is diminished, the market cannot truly recover."

Never shy about voicing his opinions, Cushman is sharply critical of decisions made by public agencies to locate major buildings near Union Station. Those agencies have been "unpredictable and irresponsible" at a time when 5 million square feet remain vacant in the financial district of downtown L.A., he says.

The "only responsible activity" to date by a public agency, he adds, has been from "the State of California, in its commitment to consolidating downtown, utilizing existing buildings and employing the concept of shared facilities."

Cushman is also caustic in his assessment of state policies that make California unattractive to business. His warning carries force because Cushman is representing Taco Bell in its nationwide search for a 400,000-square-foot headquarters. Both state and local officials are urging the fast-food concern to stay in the state. Cushman is also said to be conducting the search for a new headquarters for Times Mirror Co.

Ironically, Cushman observes that his own brokerage assisted at least one business to leave California, when Cushman broker Brian Ulf represented the Los Angeles office of Baker & McKenzie to end its lease in downtown Los Angeles, and, in Cushman's words, "hand back the keys without incurring significant cost."

He adds: "They may very well have decided not to close the Los Angeles office, had the exit option not been so favorable."