Civic Leader Joins CBRE as Managing Director

Jessica Lall to take over brokerage’s DTLA office.

Jessica Lall has joined CBRE Group Inc. as managing director, overseeing the firm’s downtown Los Angeles office. In her new position, Lall will be responsible for strategic direction and day-to-day leadership for CBRE’s Advisory Services business in the downtown market, including leasing, sales, valuations, debt and structured finance and property management across all property types.

“As a well-respected executive and community leader who is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about downtown L.A., Jessica brings a unique perspective to the important role commercial real estate plays in the overall health and vitality of the broader business environment and community,” Lew Horne, president of CBRE’s Greater Los Angeles, Orange County and Inland Empire regions, said in a statement.

Lall comes to her new role with a long history as a civic leader. She was the president and chief executive officer of the Central City Association of Los Angeles, an advocacy organization focused on elevating the vibrancy of downtown L.A., from January 2017 to this past December. In her six years leading CCA, Lall represented more than 300 large employers, small businesses, nonprofits and trade associations in L.A. County, with a mission of increasing housing and economic opportunity in the region.

Prior to this, Lall was the executive director for the South Park Business Improvement District, where she supported community building and economic development through improved transit and pedestrian infrastructure and the implementation of new projects and campaigns to benefit the downtown L.A. community at large. The South Park BID in downtown L.A. represented a 52-block neighborhood home to anchor facilities including Staples Center, L.A. Live and California Hospital Medical Center, along with the fastest growing residential population in downtown.

In her role leading the South Park BID, Lall represented the residents, property owners, and large and small businesses in the community. She executed plans to fix broken sidewalks, create tree canopies and curate public art.

Lall also held the role of senior policy director in the Department of Economic and Business Policy for former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. This office was instrumental in supporting businesses of all sizes after the recession.

After all her civic experience with downtown L.A., Lall — who ran for L.A. city mayor in 2021 — strongly believes in the promise of the submarket.

“Downtown is one of the most diverse communities in Los Angeles,” Lall said. “We have Little Tokyo, we have Chinatown, we have the Arts District, we have some of the most exciting cultural institutions, the Broad Museum, we have sports and entertainment from LA Live to Dodger Stadium.

"To me downtown represents the laboratory for the rest of the city. Ideas start here. We have a residential community upwards of 80,000 people. People take a lot of pride in their community. They want to see it succeed. They welcome the tourists, they welcome the development. That’s something that’s unique to downtown and if appropriately leveraged, can really go back to setting that high bar and being the job center and the transit center for not just the city but the region,” she added

Lall is set on bringing her downtown L.A. experience and expertise to her new role at CBRE.

“I bring leadership skills,” Lall said. “I’ve been running two organizations in the last decade. I bring deep knowledge of the city and how to connect the public and the private. I bring a passion and commitment to our city, looking for opportunities and connecting the dots and not being afraid to be bold and to try things differently if they’re not working the first time. To be innovative.

“What excites me about this opportunity professionally is being able to bring my knowledge of the city, my relationships, my passion for downtown in particular to a company that shares those same goals while I’m also able to work with new people and learn,” Lall continued. “What’s going to move us all forward is being able to sit with people with different knowledge and expertise and relationships and being able to connect those dots. When you have those same values and alignment, that’s really where the exciting, creative and innovative solutions start to come into play. I think we’ve seen downtown be particularly challenged with the pandemic, political leadership. We have a lot of unique challenges but we’re positioned to get things back on track.”

Lall said she has already found much inspiration at her new workplace.

“I’ve been so impressed by the intellect, experiences and the breadth and the depth of the expertise that exists within the company both here locally and nationally and globally,” Lall said. “For being a global company, it feels very small. You can access people very easily. It has an entrepreneurial spirit and approach. People have a shared sense of values which keeps everyone connected in a way that I haven’t really seen in an organization this large before.”

Lall follows Andy Ratner in leading CBRE’s Downtown L.A. office. Ratner now oversees the firm’s West L.A office.