Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE:DEI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

So this has to be coming maybe reasonably because it’s a studio of the 10 there, not a great time to have vacancy there. If the long-term prospects of the building are outstanding because it’s a fantastic market. But right now, I am seeing where like a lot of a large set of deals happening. So this is a fantastic building. It’s extremely well located. I can tell you a lot of great stuff about the building, but — it’s also going to be a big job to lease it up.

Operator: And our next question will come from Dylan Burzinski with Green Street.

Dylan Burzinski : I guess just any update on some of the zoning changes that were made at the state level for multifamily zoning that you guys have?

Jordan Kaplan: Well, the state has been our friend in this. And so there was AB 2011, which L.A. just gave guidance on. This is in July. And it allows us to do a zone change without a public hearing process. And at Wave Sequel, there’s an affordable component. And so those — that’s great for getting more housing done and getting around the nimby Squad in L.A. And so the state has been throwing things out. Some are helpful, some aren’t.

Dylan Burzinski : That one real helpful.

Jordan Kaplan: That one was super help.

Dylan Burzinski : Yes. That one was like telling kids they no longer have to take the sats to go to go to college, that’s a big why. Does that change sort of any immediate impact on projects outside of Barrington, or is this still a longer-term process?

Jordan Kaplan: It’s shorter than it was before that, much shorter. And it probably — it’s the value we’ve been talking about and it’s a very concrete realization of the impact of sites that we own, that change happened. That’s a really big — I mean, you guys won’t see it because we still have to go through the city’s process to get entitlements, and we have to want to build the buildings, and I think it’s the right time and right construction costs and everything. But I mean, it’s completely different conversation and much more able to realize in a time line that’s like where you’re making a decision in that same time period. It’s really big.

Operator: And our next question will come from Rich Anderson with Wedbush.

Rich Anderson : First question, your thought of as an office REIT, but we talked more and more about multifamily lately for all the different things that you’re doing. And we have a fair amount of your REIT peers that look at L.A. in Southern California in general and say, I want to get out of here, given all the regulatory political risks of owning multifamily real estate in this area of the country. Do you have any — you have any interest, or have you hadn’t seen any of that come to market and market rate type multifamily product from peer REITs that might become interesting to you? Is that a part of your pipeline?

Jordan Kaplan: We’re seeing multifamily more than we’re seeing the quality office that we want. And some of it’s new. Some of it’s coming off of a construction loan. Yes. I mean, Ken, you can talk about it on that.

Kevin Crummy: Yes. It’s — it’s definitely — it’s a combination of some institutional owners that are looking to get out and multifamily in L.A. is still attractive relative to other markets. And then we also have seen some people who bought with floating rate debt, and we’re planning on doing a repositioning that are getting squeezed right now. And so — but I wouldn’t say that there’s a wholesale abandonment of L.A. due to the politics. It’s the politics have moved a little bit left, and we’re all working on moving that back to the center. But keep in mind, those politics that make it difficult to build also make it great to own.