Moving into the spotlight.

Real estate consultant Larry J. Kosmont takes some big assignments and makes a name for himself

When the Los Angeles Times recently reported conclusions contained in a draft of a sobering LAPD facilities analysis, LAPD real estate consultant Larry J. Kosmont's name was suddenly appearing on the big daily's front page.

The typically behind-the-scenes consultant doesn't necessarily mind the high-profile publicity - it will no doubt generate some inquiries from prospective private- and public-sector clients. But it was something of a change of pace for Sherman Oaks-based Kosmont & Associates Inc.'s 44-year-old president.

"I've pretty much let the client take the lead" on the public spotlight front over the decade Kosmont now has under his belt as a successful private consultant - following his 13 years as a Southland public official.

And if that means Kosmont & Associates doesn't always get credited publicly for its accomplishments, "that's just fine," the avid spurts fan stresses.

"We pride ourselves on our ability to get the job done, to move our clients through the transactions they're pursuing," comments Kosmont - who learned early "survival instincts" as a half-Venezuelan "street kid" growing up in Spanish Harlem.

So, for instance, while the just-completed LAPD study is already receiving substantial public scrutiny, Kosmont sees the publicity primarily as a potential impediment to the police department's progress.

Kosmont and LAPD Chief Willie Williams formally presented the far-ranging study of the department's dire facilities upgrade needs to the Police Commission last week.

But someone leaked a draft to the Times two months ago - and suddenly Kosmont's name was linked to the potential $1.4 billion bill taxpayers would have to flip to replace the Hollenbeck, Rampart and West Valley stations, improve 10 others, build two new ones and 40 "satellite" stations, and perhaps demolish the deteriorating Parker Center downtown headquarters.

"When you're working in the public domain in particular, the spotlight hits everyone," Kosmont comments, "but you just can't get too distracted by it." Rather, the "really important challenge" here is to get the LAPD's costly facilities upgrade/expansion program approved and financed, adds Kosmont, a currently single Marina del Rey resident who acts as Big Brother for two needy boys.

Distracting or otherwise, however, Kosmont's public profile seems inevitably bound for its own upgrade and expansion in the collective wakes of several key career highlights - many of them, such as the LAPD assignment, linked to L.A.'s city government.

Kosmont's 14-professional consultancy helped the city develop and evaluate various financial/tax incentive packages aimed at convincing fledgling entertainment powerhouse DreamWorks SKG to locate its headquarters within the city - a commitment that firm's famous founders announced in December.

Working with public relations firm Rogers & Associates, Kosmont's firm is developing a "Business Resource Guide" on behalf of Mayor Richard Riordan's L.A. Business Team. The guide aims to help businesses understand and use the city's economic development and business incentive programs.

And early this year, Riordan appointed Kosmont as one of the city's directors on the board of the Metropolitan Water District, the regional water agency Kosmont has served as a consultant in recent years amid its search for a new headquarters facility.

The city projects illustrate two key characteristics Kosmont's operation has assumed as the Southland's real estate and economic climate turned a 180 - and has just commenced its ascent back toward the 360 mark - during the firm's 10 years in business.

One is the importance of public-sector clients as well as private industry to the consultancy founded by a man who'd held key planning, redevelopment, housing and city manager posts with local cities including Burbank, Santa Monica, Seal Beach and Bell Gardens.

The other is Kosmont & Associates' migration into the economic development arena from the development/redevelopment roots he planted after concluding that he owed himself "a chance to be an entrepreneur."

While Kosmont intentionally focused on the private sector after "removing the constraints of a public-sector salary," public entities have accounted for about half his firm's billings over his firm's 10 years in business - each of which has been profitable, the principal points out.

Besides MWD, major agency-type clients have included Southern California Association of Governments, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and California State University. And besides L.A., a list of client cities with saintly first names alone includes San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Clarita - not to mention L.A. County's own Inglewood, Pasadena, Palmdale and Redondo Beach.

On the private side, the client roster includes real estate giants such as Disney Development Co., Donahue Schriber and Ford Motor Land Development Co. And Kosmont's more corporate-type clients include the likes of local heavyweights Times Mirror Corp., Shamrock Holdings, City National Bank, Blue Cross of California and Hollywood Park Enterprises.

After leaving his post as Burbank's director of community development, Kosmont launched something of a "private-sector redevelopment agency" aiming primarily to assist developers and businesses run public entitlements/permitting gauntlets. The firm also consulted on real estate finance matters, transportation planning and other related disciplines.

When real estate development markets retrenched as the 1990s approached, however, Kosmont's firm pursued more economic development-oriented projects for both public and private clients. Hence, the DreamWorks endeavor for a city fighting to recruit and retain key employers.

And now that the local economy is improving - and certain real estate submarkets are rebounding - Kosmont says he hopes to consummate "state-of-the-art economic development deals" and even manage actual development projects while continuing to serve both public and private clients.

After all, since Kosmont's firm has worked on so many "pre-development" strategic plans, "who knows the follow-through better than we do?"

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Larry J. Kosmont

Age: 44 Native of: New York City Resident of: Marina del Rey Education: B.A., political science and economics, State University of New York; Master of Public Administration, USC Spouse: none