Weekend Interview: Managing Director Jessica Lall On CBRE, Civics And The Future Of Downtowns

This series gets into the heads of the decision-makers of CRE, the people shaping the industry by setting investment strategy, workplace design, diversity initiatives and more.

Jessica Lall has been at her position as managing director of CBRE’s Downtown LA office for less than two months, but she’s no newcomer to the market. 

Lall came to CBRE from the Central City Association, an advocacy organization representing businesses and property owners active in Downtown, and during her time there she also ran for Los Angeles mayor. Prior to that she was the executive director of the South Park Business Improvement District, a similar advocacy group for a neighborhood within Downtown that includes LA Live, the Staples Center and convention center, numerous office buildings and many of the pricey high-rises that have sprung up over the last five to seven years. Lall also worked as senior policy director in the Department of Economic and Business Policy under former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in the early 2010s.

Speaking with Bisnow, Lall discussed using her extensive experience to help the Downtown office and other offices become more actively engaged in policies that affect the markets in which they work and what she sees in DTLA’s future.

Bisnow: You announced at the end of last year that you were leaving the Central City Association, a business and property owner group, and moving to CBRE. What brought you to this role leading CBRE’s Downtown LA office and what do you hope to do there?

Lall: When I was at the Central City Association, I worked with [CBRE President, Greater LA, Orange County and Inland Empire] Lew Horne. He was concerned about the homelessness crisis and how fast it was growing. He wanted to know how he and the company could make an impact on the issue. Through our working together, I saw examples of how invested the company was, not in terms of just its business, but in understanding how its expertise and the experiences of the people in the office could help solve problems that affected everyone in Downtown. 

We know that Downtown LA is facing a lot of challenges at this moment, as downtowns across the U.S. are, but it must come back. It's going to. And I think the people who work in our Downtown office are really committed to that. I look forward to better connecting dots and really having the company and the office in Downtown be a part of that new future.

Bisnow: There are definitely challenges that are shared among many downtowns across the country, but what are some that are unique to Los Angeles' Downtown? 

Lall: This is only partially unique to Downtown LA, because this is an issue in downtowns almost everywhere, but our homelessness crisis. [Lall was, until last month, on the commission for the agency that oversees LA city and county’s homelessness agency.] It hasn’t been adequately addressed for so long. It’s more entrenched in some ways here, and requires more urgent solutions. I think we’re starting to see that. 

Downtown has also been challenged by political issues, starting with Councilman Jose Huizar before Covid to issues with our political leadership since, which I think does hurt our ability as a community to seek the government’s support in places where we need it. 

Commercial real estate and real estate in general has a critical role to play in overcoming these challenges. Look at housing. Downtown is expected to accommodate 20% of the city’s housing growth in an area that takes up 1% of the city’s land [according to the DTLA 2040 plan]. We have an outsized role to play in that housing production. 

Bisnow: Hearing you speak on multiple issues now reminds me that when I think of you, I think of a public policy-focused person, someone who's intimately familiar with the way things get done — or don’t — in this city. How are you planning to use that extensive experience for CBRE in this role? 

Lall: I think that was definitely one reason I was recruited to CBRE – my knowledge of the Downtown community at large, the issues, the players, how hopefully to connect dots. I think the company's interested in leadership that has that knowledge and can apply it. 

I do run the downtown office, but my functional role in the greater region is to help with civic engagement strategy, so all offices can be more active in their communities. Personally, I think that our LA business community needs to have a stronger voice and be proactive. They need to be there to help discuss policy initiatives that are going to affect businesses and residents alike.

The people I've interacted with in the Downtown office truly care about the neighborhood. They've seen it undergo this 20-year renaissance and they’ve seen that almost wash away because of a pandemic. It's going to require all of us doing more to make sure that we come back stronger.

Bisnow: One of the issues you have been really vocal about was pushing for the approval of the DTLA 2040 Plan, a planning document that imagines the neighborhood adding 125,000 residents and 55,000 jobs by 2040, and attempts to adjust zoning in the area to allow for housing and other additions that will be needed to accommodate that growth. I think I heard you chuckle a little bit because that plan, after so much outreach and work, has yet to be completely approved. 

Lall: We might get to 2040 before it’s adopted. I’m kidding. Sort of. 

Definitely, I think the plan is almost more needed than ever so there can be clarity around what the vision is for Downtown. 

This plan is supposed to be an example for how community plans should be done in the rest of the city. Because our plans are so out of date, it makes building anything by-right almost impossible. That's where you come to the subjectivity, the over-empowered city council offices. It creates an environment that's more ripe for corruption and we've seen that play out at LA City Hall, and have Downtown be kind of ground zero for that. The plan is a critical tool for solid governance and it's a critical tool to double-down on the vision for Downtown, so people can know what to expect and build accordingly.

Bisnow: Speaking of city leadership, you ran a campaign for mayor and went up against political veterans and deep-pocketed opponents. What are some things you learned from that effort that will be useful in your new role at CBRE? 

Lall: Running for mayor was an incredible experience. I had a lot of opportunity to talk to a lot of new people in the business community, in real estate especially, who were really trying to create job opportunities and better-paying jobs, trying to invest in the communities and build housing that we need. I saw how shut out of the process they feel, how they are often villainized.

It's something that has really stuck with me. I don't think we solve complex problems together by saying that one side's the bad guys. We need job creators, we need homebuilders. We're a city that is one of the poorest in the country when you look at cost of living to wages. We need companies here, we need jobs, we need all of these things. 

Bisnow: You were recruited to this position because of your experience and the way that you engage with people, but what made you decide to take it? What are you seeing that's possible through this job that maybe wasn't possible in your previous roles?

Lall: So many things! Working for a massive Fortune 500 company is such a departure, in many ways, from what I’ve done before — the resources, the expertise. The private sector really has the ability to lead, try new things and experiment in a way that government and nonprofit does not. I’m grateful for the professional experiences I’ve had that have led me here, but that’s what excites me the most about being here. 

Bisnow: Give us a bold prediction for the rest of the year. 

Lall: Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a wild and exciting ride. I think we all are going to end the year amazed by where we started and where we have to go.

Bisnow: What is your weekend routine or favorite weekend activity?

Lall: My husband, my 3-year-old daughter and I cook breakfast together and maybe turn on the news or a Sunday morning show. Then we go for a family walk and go to the farmers market. It sounds so basic, but it's a thing that we all get to do together, and after a long and busy week, it feels very grounding.

CORRECTION, FEB. 18, 9:40 A.M. PT: The story has been updated to reflect that, as of January, Lall is no longer on the homelessness commission.