Overview

Arteen Mnayan is an associate in the Land Use and Public Policy, Regulatory & Political Law practice of Mayer Brown's Los Angeles office. 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.

Arteen has extensive experience in land use regulation and obtaining entitlements for real estate development projects, including residential development, commercial development, mixed-use projects, hotels, schools, medical facilities, and master planned communities. He also advises clients on land use, environmental, and housing regulations, including CEQA entitlement streamlining laws, the California Subdivision Map Act, the Ellis Act, and density bonus laws, and he has experience drafting development agreements. Arteen also advises institutional lenders with regards to land use entitlement issues in the origination of industrial, multi-family, medical, retail and office construction loans and on refinancing and acquisition loans secured by all types of real estate.

As an active member of the policy and land use community, Arteen serves on the Los Angeles Business Council’s Legislative Affairs Committee and the Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s Land Use Committee, and serves on the boards and committees of several non-profit organizations. He is also a registered lobbyist in the County and City of Los Angeles and numerous local municipalities.

In 2022, Arteen was appointed to the Court Reporters Board of California by President pro tempore of the California State Senate Toni G. Atkins.

During law school, Arteen externed for the Central District of California Bankruptcy Court for the Honorable Victoria S. Kaufman.

The 2022 edition of The Legal 500 United States recognized Arteen as a “Rising Star.”

Areas of Focus

Practices

Spoken Languages

  • English
  • Armenian

Experience

Representative experience includes serving on the following Mayer Brown project teams:

  • 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 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 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.
  • Representing Prologis with due diligence related to the acquisition of a nine-acre site located in the Arts District neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles.
  • 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 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Education

University of Southern California, BA, cum laude

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, JD

Admissions

  • California

Activities

  • Legislative Affairs Committee Member of the Los Angeles Business Council
  • Land Use Committee Member of the Valley Industry Commerce Association
  • Member of the Central City Association of Los Angeles 
  • Member of the State Bar of California