Real Estate Developers

Real estate magnate Sam Zell will headline the Real Estate 2000 conference on Jan. 21 in Century City. Zell, chairman of Chicago-based Equity Group Investments, will deliver the keynote speech at the daylong event. More than 40 real estate developers, brokers and finance specialists will participate in panel discussions. Featured speakers include former Gov. Pete Wilson, now managing director of Pacific Capital Group, William E. Concannon, president of Trammell Crow Co.

A sweeping federal investigation of municipal corruption has snared its first big target, a lobbyist long suspected of being a bagman for developers and politicians. Jeffrey T. Roberts, 43, a consultant on building projects in Fresno County, pleaded guilty last week to helping a city councilman extort a $10,000 campaign contribution from a developer.

Is it ironic that one of Ventura County's most prolific real-estate developers is endowing a chair at Cal State Channel Islands for the study of land-use planning? Not at all. Ventura County is the perfect laboratory for that--and developers are as eager as anyone to find fair, workable solutions. Last week Oxnard developer Martin V. "Bud" Smith became the second area resident within six months to contribute $5 million for building the county's first four-year public university.

Stepping into the middle of a dispute between a hillside developer and Pacific Palisades residents, Los Angeles officials have begun erecting a $150,000 safety fence between a cliff and nearby homes. Officials said Tuesday that they took the unusual step of hiring a private contractor to build the wall after developer Nasser Ahdoot failed to meet a deadline last week to construct it himself.

There are cracks in the walls at Chandler Park Village townhome and condominium complex in Sherman Oaks. But the biggest chasm is the one dividing the residents. Owners of 214 units have divided into rival camps over whether their homeowner association made the right decision in filing a $25-million lawsuit against the developer alleging shoddy construction. Some residents believe that the developer's construction was substandard, that he has been unwilling to fix it and that he should be sued.

Counting on Southern California's economy to rebound over the long term, four experienced Southern California real estate developers have formed a venture that plans to invest as much as $75 million a year in each of the next two years to turn around under-performing office and industrial properties.

Broad-based anti-recession assistance and tax relief Five-month extension of emergency jobless benefits Lower withholding on take-home pay $500 increase in personal exemption for children $3,750 health insurance tax credit for low incomes Unspecified health insurance deduction for middle incomes Deduction of interest paid on student loans Penalty-free IRA withdrawals for education Incentives for home buyers and real estate industry Temporary $5,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers

About 85 people gathered Monday in sweltering midday heat to dedicate the proposed Fossil Ridge paleontological park in the mountains above Sherman Oaks. Actor Ed Asner and Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky were among a host of speakers to laud the plan for a trail and visitor center that would make Fossil Ridge--a brushy promontory embedded with remains of ancient fish, mammals and plants--an educational resource for schoolchildren and other area residents.

Developers of a subdivision where four homes tumbled down a hillside in March were warned a decade ago about building on unstable ancient landslides but produced their own geological reports that persuaded county officials to let the project proceed, documents show. Six landslides--places where layers of the earth once slipped--were identified in 1985 on a 900-acre tract where Hon Development proposed building more than 1,500 houses.

One billion residents. It is a phrase that resonates in the minds of American business owners hoping to find a way to cash in on the liberalization of the Chinese economy. But as more businesses explore profit opportunities in Asia's most populous nation, they find that making their millions will not be as simple as selling just one widget to each of China's 1 billion consumers.