LOS ANGELES — (Los Angeles Business Journal) With increased regulation, high land costs and extended permitting timelines, investment interest in L.A. can be spotty, said Patrick Chopson, co-founder and chief product officer at Cove Architecture, an AI architecture firm based in Atlanta that analyzes building activity nationwide.
“It’s kind of like if you went to a restaurant and you ordered food, but there was a less than 80% chance that you would get your meal,” he said. “You might consider going to another restaurant, and that’s kind of how capital thinks about the L.A. market.”
Part of the problem with L.A.’s lengthy approval timelines is that “each part of the process is linked instead of parallel,” Chopson said.
In comparing 10 major metro areas’ timelines for approving large-scale multifamily developments, Cove found that L.A., New York City and Philadelphia had the longest processing times, at 16 to 25 months, 12 to 36 months and 12 to 24 months, respectively. On the other hand, Houston had an approval timeline of one to two months; Miami was three to six months; and Dallas was six months.