Business Journal homes in on a dozen residential developers who, surprise, are building in the L.A. market.
James Frost, 46
Owner and Principal
Frost/Chaddock Developers LLC, Sherman Oaks
Frost is a native Angeleno who attended USC. He’s turned his love for the city into a successful 20-year development career. His current focus is building projects that will get people out of their cars; he cites his 93-unit mixed-use apartment building at 801 N. Fairfax Ave. as an example. Future developments include a 98-unit building in Silver Lake and a 115-unit building in Palms.
Reason I’m a Residential Developer: I have a love for the streets and neighborhoods of L.A. and knew that I would pursue a career in local real estate. Further, as I began to develop larger apartments, I was passionate about creating projects that would be transformative for neighborhoods, create a real sense of community within the apartment home development, and where possible, help to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment along some of L.A.’s best streets.
If I Weren’t a Residential Developer I’d Be: I absolutely love and enjoy cooking, and would have become a chef and restaurateur.
Most Challenging Development: Our 225-unit Versailles Apartments that we developed in Koreatown was an assemblage of eight parcels. We started working on the acquisition in 2001, well before the Koreatown renaissance began. It took more than three years in multiple transactions to ultimately assemble the entire city block.
Best Career Moment: My best career move was going into business for myself in the early 1990s. For the next decade I was able to grow the firm. And by 2000, I built my first ground-up apartment project in Studio City.
My Colleagues Don’t Know: I absolutely enjoy cooking and I look forward to the holidays. I am the youngest of five children and each year I lock myself in the kitchen a few days before Christmas and prepare and host a huge dinner for my entire family and extended family at my house.
Favorite Project I Didn’t Develop: I have always admired the Luckman Plaza at the west end of the Sunset Strip. No doubt, the recent remodel by my (late) friend and colleague Stephen Kanner has made that the premier commercial building in the area.
Best Thing About Developing in L.A. County: I have lived in L.A. my entire life and developing here has provided me an opportunity to positively shape and impact the streets and neighborhoods that I have always called home.
Worst: I’d like to see more transit opportunities, transit stations and hubs around the county to focus development in concert with transit.
The Developer I’d Be If I Weren’t Me: I’d look to combine the foresight of Tom Gilmore, the tenacity of Sonny Astani and the creativity of Rick Caruso.
Bucket List: To graduate with a degree from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Academy in Paris. To race the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix.
