Nelson C Rising

Nelson C. Rising, who helped shepherd such massive Los Angeles real estate projects as the Central Library renovation and the Playa Vista master-planned community, was chosen Wednesday to be president and chief executive of struggling Catellus Development Corp. Rising, 52, a senior partner at the real estate development firm Maguire Thomas Partners in Los Angeles, succeeds Vernon B.

MPG Office Trust Chief Executive Nelson C. Rising resigned Thursday in a surprise change of leadership at the high-profile Los Angeles real estate company. The real estate trust formerly known as Maguire Properties Inc. said it had accepted Rising's resignation, which will take effect Monday. "I believe the board of directors and I do not share a common vision for the strategic direction of the Company and a capital structure necessary to achieve it," Rising said in his resignation letter.

Few developers are better poised to take advantage of the state's booming economy than San Francisco-based Catellus Development Corp. The public company, created from the real estate holdings of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad, is one of the largest landowners in the Western United States. Its portfolio, most of which is in California, contains more than 20,000 residential lots and commercial land that will eventually accommodate about 50 million square feet of buildings.

Few developers are better poised to take advantage of the state's booming economy than San Francisco-based Catellus Development Corp. The public company, created from the real estate holdings of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad, is one of the largest landowners in the Western United States. Its portfolio, most of which is in California, contains more than 20,000 residential lots and commercial land that will eventually accommodate about 50 million square feet of buildings.

MPG Office Trust Chief Executive Nelson C. Rising resigned Thursday in a surprise change of leadership at the high-profile Los Angeles real estate company. The real estate trust formerly known as Maguire Properties Inc. said it had accepted Rising's resignation, which will take effect Monday. "I believe the board of directors and I do not share a common vision for the strategic direction of the Company and a capital structure necessary to achieve it," Rising said in his resignation letter.

Nelson C. Rising, president and chief executive of San Francisco-based Catellus Development Corp., was named a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco by the central bank's board of governors. . . . Amy McCombs, president and CEO of San Francisco-based Chronicle Broadcasting Co., was elected chairwoman of the California Chamber of Commerce board.

Maguire Thomas Partners, a Santa Monica-based development firm known for its ability to win governmental approval of its projects, has acquired an interest in Summa Corp.'s $1-billion Playa Vista project south of Marina del Rey, and is redesigning the controversial development. The project, a 957-acre planned community, has been mired in controversy over its density and threat to nearby wetlands.

Catellus Residential Group in Irvine has bought 10 acres in Newport Coast from the Irvine Co., and plans to build estate homes there. Catellus Residential was formed last year by the merger of Catellus Development Corp., the publicly traded development firm in San Francisco, and the Akins Cos. in Irvine. The land is the first land acquisition in Newport Coast by Catellus. "This land purchase is a milestone for Catellus," said Nelson C. Rising, president and chief executive officer of Catellus.

Preparation of an environmental impact report on the multibillion-dollar Playa Vista project is running behind schedule, and the draft document will not be available for public review until spring at the earliest. Playa Vista senior partner Nelson C. Rising said consultants are working on the report, which will identify the consequences of building the proposed city-within-a-city between Marina del Rey and the Westchester Bluffs.

Responding to complaints that the project was too massive, the new lead developer of Playa Vista, the residential and commercial development planned just south of Marina del Rey, announced Monday that the space designated for shops and offices will be reduced significantly and the number of residential units will be increased. Nelson C. Rising, who heads the development team for Maguire Thomas Partners, said the amount of office space will be reduced by nearly 1 million square feet, to about 5 million, and the amount of retail space will be reduced by nearly 300,000 square feet, to about 680,000.

Nelson C. Rising, who helped shepherd such massive Los Angeles real estate projects as the Central Library renovation and the Playa Vista master-planned community, was chosen Wednesday to be president and chief executive of struggling Catellus Development Corp. Rising, 52, a senior partner at the real estate development firm Maguire Thomas Partners in Los Angeles, succeeds Vernon B.

In the 30 days since Maguire-Thomas Partners took over as managing partners of the Playa Vista project, the Santa Monica-based developers have made more progress in winning over community members than the previous developer did in several years, some community leaders said.

Real estate will outperform the stock market for the next few years, according to a UCLA forecast, and apartments will be especially attractive investments because of the continuing housing shortage in Southern California. "We continue to think the stock market is seriously overvalued," said Stephen D. Cauley, associate director of the Real Estate Center, last week at a conference at UCLA's Anderson School.