LOS ANGELES—At the USC Gould Real Estate Law and Business Forum last week, city leaders and development experts discussed the possibilities of the L.A. River becoming the city's Central Park. Omar Brownson, executive director of the L.A. River Revitalization Corp.; Robert T. De Forest, founder and managing principal of the Pinyon Group; Albert Lemus, SVP of Lowe Enterprises; Guy Lipa, associate director of infrastructure services at the City of Los Angeles' Office of the Mayor; and Ben Stapleton, VP at JLL spoke about the L.A. River development potential on a panel moderated by moderated by Timi Anyon Hallem of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP.

Many of the panel's speakers pointed to river revitalization projects in other cities that have experienced extraordinary successes, including Portland, OR, and San Antonio, TX. These projects renewed the city, created a community experience and were drivers for adjacent developments. Due to its geography, the L.A. River could connect all of L.A.'s community and outdoor points of interest, from Griffith Park to the San Gabriel basin. “L.A. gets knocked for being a fragmented city, and now we have this one resource that could be our “Central Park,” said Brownson, adding that the river development would consist of a series of smaller development projects to create river walks, bike lanes and equestrian bridges.

To develop community areas around the river or to create a “waterfront” experience, the city will have to undo the concrete structure that was built around it by the US Army Corps Engineers. The L.A. River is a seasonal river that floods when there is rainfall. In the 1930s, the city looked at inexpensive options to control the water flow, and hired the army corps to pack it in concrete and create a flood channel, which was successful but very unattractive. Now, the city is working to find an alternative solution to the flooding issue that will allow the community to continue using the river for recreational purposes.