Overview

Susan Chivaratanond is a senior land use project manager in Mayer Brown’s Los Angeles office. With over 15 years of urban planning experience, Susan’s background spans the gamut of planning, policy, and design, including complicated land use entitlements, site design, and drafting of public policy within the public and private sectors.

Susan leads complex development projects from inception through approvals, including several mixed-use projects in Hollywood and the Arts District. Other significant projects on which she has worked include the redevelopment of the Burbank Town Center and Crenshaw Crossing, a Los Angeles County/Metro Joint Development project in Mid-City.

Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Susan was a senior planning manager at Los Angeles County Metro. In this role, she oversaw major transportation improvements projects, including the Los Angeles Downtown Streetcar Project, where she led a coordinated multi-jurisdictional team of Metro, City of Los Angeles, and private sector consultants through the conceptual design and environmental phases. She also managed another multi-jurisdictional team through the redesign and environmental phases of the Willowbrook/Rosa Parks multi-modal station in unincorporated Los Angeles County.

Susan previously served as senior planner at Psomas, working on numerous high-profile master-planned projects across Southern California, such as Playa Vista, Newhall Ranch, and the Universal Studios Evolution Plan.

Susan is actively involved in the planning arena through participation in the American Planning Association, American Institute of Architects, Urban Land Institute, Association of Environmental Professionals, and Project for Public Spaces, and she also serves in a peer review capacity with the City of Los Angeles to advise on planning and design issues.

Areas of Focus

Practices

Experience

  • Representing Watt Investment Partners with due diligence and entitlements on multiple projects in and around Southern California, including obtaining entitlements for the Metro Joint Development Program at the Expo/Crenshaw Station with a 400 unit mixed-use projects, and the acquisition and entitlement of an office building in Los Angeles that was converted into a medical office building.
  • Representing The GPI Companies with due diligence and entitlements on multiple projects in and around the City of Los Angeles, including the 6400 Sunset Project, which involves the redevelopment of the famed Amoeba Music site with a 200-unit mixed-use project.
  • Representing AvalonBay Communities with its land use entitlements in Southern California, including with a 475-unit mixed-use project in the Arts District, a ballot measures initiative in the City of Calabasas, and with its proposal to develop the West L.A. Civic Center and Courthouse sites with a 1,000-unit mixed-use project, in response to a County and City of Los Angeles Request for Proposal.
  • Representing Crown Realty to obtain entitlements for redevelopment of the Burbank Town Center with up to 1,165 residential units, 284,000 square feet of office uses, a 250-room hotel, and 1.5 million square feet of commercial uses in the City of Burbank.
  • Representing Prologis with due diligence related to the acquisition of a nine-acre site located in the Arts District neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles.
  • Representing Community Builders Group with their land use entitlements in Southern California, including obtaining entitlement for the 4242 Crenshaw mixed-use project with 124 residential units and 6,000 square feet of retail space.
  • Representing Legendary Investment Group with their land use entitlements in Southern California, including the 15-story 4th & Hewitt mixed-use commercial office project in the Arts District neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles, and the 380 Rosemead mixed-use project in unincorporated portions of the County of Los Angeles.
  • Represented Encore Capital Management and Cal Coast Development with the entitlements for a three-acre site in Koreatown. The project will consist of approximately 400 residential apartment units and a significant retail component. This project involved the issuance of multiple entitlements as well as CEQA compliance.
  • Represented Encore Capital Management and Cal Coast Development with the entitlements for a three-acre site in Hollywood at the corner of Cahuenga and Fountain. The project will consist of approximately 375 residential apartment units and a commercial and office component. This project involved the issuance of multiple entitlements as well as CEQA compliance through the preparation of an EIR.
  • Representing Maxxam Enterprises with due diligence and entitlements on multiple projects in and around the City of Los Angeles, including the 1100 5th Street and 676 Mateo Street projects in the Arts District with a combined 400 residential units and significant commercial space.

Education

University of California, Berkeley, MCP, City and Regional Planning

University of California, Los Angeles, BA, Anthropology and Policy Studies