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\n Bisnow\/Samantha D’Angelo\n <\/p>\n
\n Greenberg Glusker\u2019s Brian Kang, Uncommon Developers\u2019 Ryan Hekmat, DTLA Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Claudia Oliveira, Central City Association of LA\u2019s Nella McOsker, Ennead Architects\u2019 Michael Saltzman, Erewhon\u2019s Yuval Chiprut and SLH investment Principal Leo Pustilnikov.\n <\/p>\n
Los Angeles\u2019 Downtown is grappling with a number of challenges, one being the perception that the area is a veritable ghost town. While that is\u00a0not the reality seen on the street,\u00a0speakers at the Downtown Los Angeles CRE Market Update agreed that foot traffic is still lagging from an important segment of the workforce: public employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the private sector employers are really stepping up, really making that commitment to their presence in Downtown,\u201d Central City Association<\/a> President and CEO Nella McOsker<\/a> told attendees at 601 S. Figueroa. \u201cWe do need to call on the public sector.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Federal workers were ordered back to the office five days a week<\/a> in January, but have yet to return. There are an estimated 10,000 federal workers based in Downtown alone.<\/p>\n The mandate was set to kick in in February. Because some departments were able to set their own deadlines for compliance, it\u2019s unclear how many federal workers are back in the office five days a week in Downtown Los Angeles to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n Bisnow\/Samantha D’Angelo\n <\/p>\n \n Allen Matkins\u2019s Joe Dzida, Langdon Street Capital\u2019s Adam Daneshgar, G.H. Palmer Associates\u2019 Darrel Malamut, DTLA Residents Association\u2019s Cassy Horton, KWP Real Estate\u2019s Justin Weiss, Lincoln Property Co.\u2019s Douglas Brown and Related California\u2019s Peter Garofalo.\n <\/p>\n In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> ordered state employees\u00a0to return to the office<\/a>\u00a0four days a week \u2013 a step up from the two days a week they had been\u00a0logging\u00a0since 2024<\/a>. The new rules were supposed to go into effect on July 1, but unions representing those workers negotiated a one-year delay on implementation, CalMatters reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The state auditor found that keeping state workers remote three days a week could\u00a0save the state $225M a year<\/a>\u00a0and allow it to reduce its office space by one-third.<\/p>\n But McOsker said that it was the \u201cmassive loss\u201d of city and county employees in the office five days a week that had perhaps the most notable impact on small local businesses, which were being sustained by those workers\u2019 coffee and lunch purchases.\u00a0<\/p>\n City and county employees make up the largest share of government workers in Downtown. Last year, roughly two-thirds of county employees\u00a0were no longer working remotely<\/a>. The county\u00a0purchased the Gas Company Tower<\/a>\u00a0in 2024 to consolidate offices for its workers.<\/p>\n City employees have never been given a return-to-work mandate, and in\u00a0some cases remain remote. Many in the commercial real estate community feel that not having in-person workers has contributed to delays in processing applications and generally slowed the construction and development process.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCivic workers, get your asses back in the office,\u201d said Adam Daneshgar, president of Langdon Street Capital, the owner of the Grand Central Market<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to bring them back. Permits take too long.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Bisnow\/Samantha D’Angelo\n <\/p>\n \n DTLA Alliance’s Nick Griffin and City Councilmember – District 14 Ysabel Jurado.\n <\/p>\n Even if there are some lags in worker attendance, there have been some big bets on Downtown continuing to be a place that Angelenos are drawn to from all over the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n