Key elements that separate successes from failures.

Sanwa Bank Plaza is considered one of the most prestigious addresses in town home to a mix of blue-chip law, real estate and finance firms.

But a few miles to the west alongside the 405 Freeway, the "green monster" sits empty, unfinished and in disrepair - its interiors vibrating with each passing car.

What separates the bad from the beautiful? Why do some commercial properties thrive and others wither?

Location, of course, makes a difference. But there are a host of other factors just as important, notably timing, design, financing, government red tape, neighborhood reaction, and then, once the development is completed, how well it's managed.

"You have to have a vision," said Jerold Neuman, a land-use attorney at Allen, Matkins, Leek, Gamble & Mallory LLP. "You have to have a keen understanding of the marketplace and position the property properly from an operational and architectural perspective. You need to understand where the project fits in terms of the market cycle and the general area around it."

Look almost anywhere in the region and examples pop up of ill-conceived office buildings and shopping centers - properties that are in the wrong neighborhoods, were shoddily built, or carry too much debt. The nine-story "Green Monster" on Santa Monica Boulevard, which has never been completely finished much less occupied, is an obvious example.

Then there are the success stories.

One property often cited by real estate brokers, developers and others is Sanwa Bank Plaza at Sixth and Figueroa streets in the heart of the financial district. The building, which hit the market in the late '80s, provides quick access to freeways, features a 75-foot-high atrium, granite and marble in the elevator lobbies, and an unusual octagonal shape that makes it stand out in the skyline, it is 97 percent leased.

"It hit the cycle right when we were at the high point of the business expansion. It has a nice design and is in a great location," said Brad Cox, senior managing director of the Pacific Southwest for Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

Anticipating what the market demand will be at the time the project is completed can be a critical factor.

"You can be in the best location and have a reputation for the best service, and the building is the cat's meow and have it at market (rents), but if you're competing with an oversupply, you're going to struggle. It's a simple math equation," said Alex Rose, director of development for Continental Development Corp.

But gauging demand can be a tricky proposition given the time it takes to gain approvals and then to actually get the thing built. In the interim, the real estate cycle and the needs of the potential users can radically change.

Some developments struggle because they came along too late in the cycle or don't account for changing tastes. That's true of many of the high-rise towers that were developed downtown in the early '90s - just around the time that campus-style buildings were coming into vogue, the economy was heading into recession, and L.A. was losing many of its large corporate headquarters.

Today, much of that glut of office space has yet to be absorbed.

"They developed too much and the product type was not what people were looking for, and there was the westward migration," Neuman said. "Sometimes people are dealing with old information."

With many failed projects, developers tried to create a market where none ever existed. That's true of two mid-range hotel projects in Compton and one in Baldwin Park that were built in the 1980s and simply had no leisure travel market to serve.

"They failed because of the lack of critical mass, You can't make single projects work when you're trying to redefine the market," said Allan Kotin, principal of the consulting firm PCR/Kotin.

Retail can be especially hard to figure. Plaza Pasadena was built in the early '80s at the tail end of the trend in "dumbbell" centers - those with a major department store at either end and shops in the middle. TrizecHahn Corp. is now completely remaking the moribund mall with residential units, office space, new retail and a theater, as well as a pedestrian corridor.

"(Plaza Pasadena) was enclosed and obsolete in scale," Kotin said. "The most successful designs enfold and engage the street."

The Hollywood Galaxy also suffered from a self-contained design, as well as landing well before Hollywood Boulevard started taking off with sparkling new retail development plans.

On the other hand, Third Street Promenade and Old Pasadena were developed just as the public's tastes shifted to street retailing. That also contributed to the success of Sunset Plaza, which has upscale boutiques along Sunset Boulevard - plus free parking in back.

Given the trend toward urban street retailing, several enclosed malls are going open-air, including the Sherman Oaks Galleria, the Woodland Hills Promenade and the Avenue of the Peninsula in Palos Verdes.

For office buildings, design is an important factor in standing out from the crowd. But good design is not always cut-and-dried - and it's a moving target. Wood-sided or bronzed-glass buildings may have been cutting edge a couple of decades ago, but clear glass looks more timeless today.

"It can be measured by how efficient lobbies are. is the parking convenient and does the building look great or dated? It's hard to quantify," Rose said. "Whatever looks dated is going to have a more difficult time selling itself if all other factors are equal."

Several 1960s- and 1970s-vintage office buildings have been undergoing facelifts to give them a more contemporary look, including Arden Realty's Westwood Center and 10100 Santa Monica Blvd.

"You have to have your eye on the future. What is the office user today going to do with it, or the guy 10 years from now?" Rose said.

Financing is another critical factor that can make or break a development. "A lot of projects fail because of high leverage," Kotin said. "If you don't have a lot of equity, you can't last out swings. Your mortgage payments start using up your revenue."

He said it's safer to have high leverage on "slam dunks," such as basic industrial buildings. When it comes to more experimental buildings, high leverage can be a killer.

Then there are the neighbors to consider.

"Entitlements are no longer a matter of right, they're a matter of privilege. You have to go through the process of dealing with the stakeholders in the community," said Jim Goodell, a consultant with Goodell Brackenbush in Pasadena.

Neighborhood reaction can sometimes force a project to scale back to the point where it's no longer viable. For example, neighbors demanded that a proposed power center mall on the Cal State Northridge campus be cut by 40 percent. But given land and development costs, the project would no longer have been viable and the developer dropped it.

The development has since been revived as a biotech facility for MiniMed.

"The people who live there and have to look at whatever gets built have a right to be involved in the approval process and shape how it looks," said Paul Novak, principal with land-use consulting firm Novak + Associates.