Okitami Komada

After helping shape the skyline of Los Angeles, New York and other cities during a massive 1980s building spree, the president of one of the most powerful and successful Japanese-owned real estate development firms in the United States has resigned. Okitami Komada, who for the past five years was president and chief executive of Mitsui Fudosan U.S.A. Inc., a unit of Tokyo-based real estate concern Mitsui Fudosan Co., left Friday to form his own real estate consulting firm, Komada International.

Okitami Komada, 56, major commercial real estate developer in downtown Los Angeles. A graduate of Tokyo's Keio University, he received a graduate degree in business from UCLA. Komada was the former president and chief executive officer of Mitsui Fudosan U.S.A. Inc. During his tenure, he directed the development of the 52-story Sanwa Bank Plaza, completed in 1990 at Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street.

Okitami Komada, 56, major commercial real estate developer in downtown Los Angeles. A graduate of Tokyo's Keio University, he received a graduate degree in business from UCLA. Komada was the former president and chief executive officer of Mitsui Fudosan U.S.A. Inc. During his tenure, he directed the development of the 52-story Sanwa Bank Plaza, completed in 1990 at Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street.

After helping shape the skyline of Los Angeles, New York and other cities during a massive 1980s building spree, the president of one of the most powerful and successful Japanese-owned real estate development firms in the United States has resigned. Okitami Komada, who for the past five years was president and chief executive of Mitsui Fudosan U.S.A. Inc., a unit of Tokyo-based real estate concern Mitsui Fudosan Co., left Friday to form his own real estate consulting firm, Komada International.

Joseph J. Pinola, chairman and chief executive officer of First Interstate Bancorp, will be the keynote speaker Wednesday at a real estate conference sponsored by the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate Development. The conference at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will feature leading figures in the real estate profession, examining such topics as financing, growth limits, toxic waste, Japanese investments and emerging Pacific Rim investment opportunities.

The article "A Troubling Trend Is Seen in Japanese Corporate Giving" (Feb. 11) prompted me to point out some additional facts that should be noted. More of our Japanese colleagues are stepping forward to take leadership roles in charitable giving. There is a growing awareness that business can only prosper in the context of a healthy society. Philanthropy, especially as it relates to human-care services, is not a luxury.

It's way out there, but David Murdock's new Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks is spring's new "in" place for charity do-gooding. Supporters of Crittenton Center for Young Women and Infants revel in splendor there April 21 for their "Afternoon in the Country" benefit planned by Katrina Cord and Barbara McMahon (she's also persuaded Princess Maria of Borbon, second in line to King Juan Carlos of Spain, to judge the Miss Universe Pageant Thursday).

The continuing expansion of foreign investors into downtown Los Angeles, as illustrated below, clearly emphasizes their involvement and shows particularly how Little Tokyo is expanding its boundaries into a "big" Tokyo. Japanese ownership of these showcase properties, outside of the long-established Little Tokyo area northeast of the central downtown district, indicates the great and growing impact and visibility Japan is having on the local scene.

United Way of Greater Los Angeles, which usually relies on the largest local employers to provide most of its donations, will undertake what officials call a "high-risk" effort and target foreign companies and more small businesses next week when it begins its 1989-1990 campaign. The 70-year-old organization has tapped businessman Okitami Komada, to head a new drive to solicit contributions from Japanese companies during the six-month-long fund-raising campaign that begins Sept. 20.

In a darkened sales office 28 floors above Downtown Los Angeles, the corner walls slide away at the touch of a button and sunlight pours in through huge windows. Below, the site of Los Angeles Center comes into view. But instead of the shimmering skyscrapers envisioned a few years ago, Los Angeles Center remains a collection of parking lots surrounding an outdated office building.

Buoyed by the "building of the year" award that a trade group gave its first office tower in downtown Los Angeles in 1989, Metropolitan Structures West Inc. broke ground that year on an even grander $326-million skyscraper hoping to attract tenants as fast as its sibling did. But four months before California Plaza II will open, company officials are not optimistic. The 52-story tower is just 30% pre-leased and faces stiff competition in a crowded market.