"Edgar Khalatian is hands down the best land use attorney in LA."
Legal 500 USA 2020

Overview

Edgar Khalatian is a partner in Mayer Brown‘s Los Angeles office and leads the Firm’s Land Use Practice Group. He primarily represents investors and developers in all aspects of the real estate entitlement and development process, focusing on land use entitlement matters, helping developers navigate state and local regulations and authorities, government outreach, and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance.

Edgar has extensive experience in land use regulation and obtaining entitlements for real estate development projects, including residential development, commercial development, mixed-use projects, hotels, medical facilities, and schools. He also has experience drafting and negotiating development agreements, sign districts, and experience with water supply issues. Edgar has experience in the planning and implementation of all necessary steps involved in guiding both urban infill and master planned communities from pre-design to completion, including legal challenges to project approvals. In addition, he has experience with SB 221 and SB 610 statutes on water supply. He also assists in the litigation of cases at both the trial and appellate level.

Edgar has been involved with numerous high-profile and complex land use projects in California, including, but not limited to, the 1,005 unit mixed-use Hollywood Center Project (Capitol Records site) in Hollywood; the 6400 Sunset mixed-use project (Amoeba Music site); the 1.66 million square-foot mixed-use Reef/Broadway Square project in downtown Los Angeles; Columbia Square, an innovative 875,000 square foot mixed use project in Hollywood; a 225,000 square foot mixed use project on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood on the famed House of Blues site; and the addition of a 300,000 square foot Class A office building on a site adjacent to a hotel in Culver City. Additionally, he has represented the J. Paul Getty Trust for land use related issue involving the Getty’s property holdings and its relations with the neighboring communities; Lennar/Heritage Fields in its project involving a 4,600-acre master planned community located on the former El Toro Marine Base in Irvine; and Newhall Land & Farming/Lennar in a 700-acre master planned community with 1,000 residential units located in Santa Clarita. Edgar also has extensive experience with public-private development projects, including but not limited to, representing AvalonBay Communities with their winning proposal to entitle and 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. He also represents a number of schools with their land use entitlement issues, including Harvard-Westlake, Loyola High School, Sierra Canyon, and Laurence. 

Edgar also has experience advocating on behalf of clients in Sacramento to pursue CEQA and housing legislation, including legislation to expedite the CEQA litigation process.

As an active member of the land use community, Edgar was appointed by the Director of the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to serve as co-chair of the Los Angeles Zoning Advisory Committee. In this role, he is working to complete a comprehensive revision of the City of Los Angeles’ Zoning Code, one of the City’s largest planning initiatives to date. He serves on the Central City Association (CCA) Board of Directors and chairs CCA’s Political Action Committee. Edgar was also the chairman of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association’s Land Use Committee for six years. Edgar is also on the Board of Trustees for the Laurence School. He is a licensed real estate broker and a registered lobbyist in the County and City of Los Angeles and numerous local municipalities.

In recognition of his leading reputation in land use regulation and real estate development, The Daily Journal named Edgar one of California’s Top 50 Development lawyers and he is listed in Legal 500 US for land use. Edgar was also recently named to ConnectCRE’s 2020 “Lawyers in Real Estate” list, which identified the top 50 real estate lawyers in the United States. Edgar has been named a top rated land use and zoning attorney in Los Angeles by Super Lawyers Magazine, including earning its “Rising Star” distinction in 2015.

Areas of Focus

Practices

Spoken Languages

  • Armenian

Experience

Representative Entitlement Projects

  • Representing Millennium Partners with entitlements for the famed Capitol Records building in Hollywood. The project will include approximately 1,005 residential units, significant commercial uses, and vast amounts of public and private open spaces.
  • 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 winning proposal to develop a 1,000-unit mixed-use project with residential, commercial, and municipal uses at the West L.A. Civic Center and Courthouse sites in response to a County and City of Los Angeles issued Request for Proposal. The West L.A. project involves the negotiation of an exclusive negotiating agreement and other municipal agreements and obtaining land use entitlements through a dual entitlement process with the County and the City.
  • Represented the owners of The Reef/Broadway Square in obtaining entitlements for a 10-acre site in downtown Los Angeles, one of the biggest development projects in the City. The project consists of approximately 1,500 residential units, a 200-key hotel, and over 150,000 square feet of commercial uses. This project involved the negotiation of a 20-year development agreement and a community benefits package, a sign district to allow off-site digital signage, and CEQA compliance through the preparation of an EIR.
  • Represented Townscape Partners with the entitlements for the 8150 Sunset project, designed by the world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. The project includes 229 residential units, including 38 affordable units, and 60,000 square feet of commercial uses on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights in Los Angeles.
  • Representing Mitsui Fudosan America with the entitlement of a 50-story mixed-use tower with 580 residential dwelling units and ground floor commercial space in Downtown Los Angeles.
  • Serving as land use counsel representing the Sunset + Wilcox Project property owners (a joint venture between Millennium Partners and Shorenstein Properties) to obtain entitlements for a commercial mixed-use project located at Sunset Boulevard and Wilcox Avenue in Hollywood with approximately 450,000 square feet of office and restaurant uses.
  • Represent 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 Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City in the construction of a new 16 story, 400-key hotel building within walking distance of Universal Studios Hollywood.
  • Representing Harvard-Westlake School in obtaining entitlements for the Harvard-Westlake River Park campus, which involves the redevelopment of the 16-acre Weddington Gold & Tennis property in Studio City along the Los Angeles River, which will offer athletic and recreational opportunities for students and the community.
  • 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 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 Prologis with due diligence related to the acquisition of a nine-acre site located in the Arts District neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles.
  • Representing The Post Group with all their land use entitlements in Southern California, including the 1000 Seward and 1250 Vine commercial mixed-use projects with a combined approximate floor area of 400,000 square feet.
  • 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.
  • Represented* AREA Property Partners (formally Apollo Real Estate Fund) in obtaining land use entitlements for the approximately one million square foot Columbia Square mixed-use project on a full city block at Sunset and Gower in Hollywood. The project entitlements permitted the development of a boutique 125-key hotel, 200 condominium units in a high-rise residential tower, and 460,000 square feet of office space and retail and restaurant amenities. This project included substantial cultural and historic related issues and the issuance of many local permits and CEQA compliance through the preparation of an EIR.
  • Represented* Carlyle Realty Partners in obtaining land use approvals from the city of Culver City and its Redevelopment Agency for a 400,000 square foot Class A office building to be integrated with an existing hotel to create a mixed-use project. This project involved a complex shared parking analysis, major traffic improvements, and CEQA compliance through the preparation of an EIR.
  • Represented* Combined Properties with the entitlements for the famed House of Blues site in West Hollywood. The project entitlements allow for the development of a 225,000 square foot mixed use project that will include a 149-key boutique hotel, 40 branded luxury residential units, an affordable housing component, and 15,000 square feet of entertainment and restaurant space. This project involved negotiating a development agreement and a community benefits package and the issuance of local permits and CEQA compliance through the preparation of an EIR.
  • Represented* the Downtown Women’s Center with the entitlement for a 70,000 square foot shelter in downtown Los Angeles. This pro bono project involved complex negotiations with the City of Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency, the City of Los Angeles Planning Department, and numerous neighborhood groups.

* Representation was assisted by Edgar prior to his employment with Mayer Brown.

Perspectives

Events

News

View All News

Education

Southwestern Law School, JD

California State University, BA

Admissions

  • California

Activities

  • Co-Chair of Re:Code LA’s Zoning Advisory Committee
  • Central City Association Board of Directors and Executive Officer
  • Chair of the Central City Association’s Political Action Committee 
  • Former Chairman of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association Land Use Committee
  • Board of Trustees of Laurence School
  • Licensed real estate broker
  • Registered lobbyist in the City and County of Los Angeles 
  • Member of the State Bar of California