**Connect LA 2025: Industry Leaders Reflect on an Unpredictable Year in Commercial Real Estate**
At Connect Los Angeles 2025, a panel of leading voices in commercial real estate gathered for the annual “View from the Top” discussion to assess the state of the industry midway through a year that has defied expectations.
Allen Matkins partner Alain R’bibo opened the session by acknowledging how drastically market predictions have diverged from reality. “I think we all started the year with some different expectations: maybe lower interest rates, maybe some kind of economic normalization. But we’re now six months into the year and things have not gone exactly as expected,” he said.
Echoing that sentiment, Jamison CEO Jaime Lee referenced the phrase many in the industry have clung to — “survive until ‘25” — noting that the hoped-for stability may still be another year or more away. “Capital has been sidelined for so long that maybe this consistent psychological pressure, anxiety and stress is just the new normal,” she observed. “So now people do seem to actually be coming out and saying, ‘Well, I guess we should make a deal at some point.’ And so we’re starting to see some nominal activity.”
Evan Kinne, managing director at George Smith Partners and CEO of AXCS Capital, added, “It’s definitely not risk-on for most of the market. I think people have been afraid to go out there and really reprice their assets.”
While much of the market remains cautious, some sectors are beginning to see increased engagement. Jim Dillavou, principal at Paragon Commercial Group, pointed to the resurgence of interest in retail real estate. “People wouldn’t return my calls for years, and now everybody wants to talk. All of a sudden, neighborhood grocery-anchored centers are everyone’s darling. Why? Because they’re totally risk-off.”
Bill Frame, CEO of Kidder Mathews, noted a marked increase in transactional activity, particularly in the middle market. “Our revenue’s up 20% in all divisions, led by brokerage,” said Frame. “Our transaction count’s up about 10%” year-over-year. He remains optimistic about the region, adding, “If we can get some of this noise out of the market and specifically in LA, because that’s where this room is from, I don’t think it will take much for it to turn.”
The conversation also turned to capital availability and deployment. Jim Brooks, president of BH Properties, noted that deals have seen little competition from institutional players. “We’re not seeing much, if any, competition from the institutional side,” he said. “But private capital is having its moment in the sun right now, and we acknowledge that’s not going to last forever. Institutional capital tends to run like the herd. And so once one goes, the next goes — and before you know it, they’re all in.”
As uncertainty continues to dominate the commercial real estate landscape, the panelists remain cautiously hopeful that slowly increasing activity and easing capital constraints could set the stage for recovery — just not as quickly as once hoped.
