Kanne do? Meet the developer driving high-rise resi at The Bloc

"The Los Angeles City Council did more than greenlight a towering addition to one of Downtown Los Angeles' best-known commercial centers last week it also put a spotlight on a faraway firm and the one-time Peace Corp volunteer who runs it. The 15-member council approved National Real Estate Advisors' residential highrise project at The Bloc shopping mall at 7th and Flower streets, clearing the way for its Washington, D.C.-based developer to add a 41-story, 710-foot-tall tower with 466 apartments above The Bloc's existing parking structure."

"The residential component will join a fitness club that has partially filled a one-time Macy's department store, various smaller retail shops, a 26-story Sheraton hotel, and 33 floors of office space that already comprise The Bloc. The project will proceed under the guidance of the firm's CEO, Jerry Kanne, who comes to the rough-and-tumble world of real estate development via the Peace Corps."

"Kanne, who didn't respond to an inquiry for this piece, eventually landed with the parent of National Real Estate, which has about $4 billion in assets under management and is best known for its multifamily and office development. That was 38 years ago, and he has spanned various aspects of real estate development since. In 2000, multi-billion-dollar pension fund National Electrical Benefit Fund formed an investment team to invest in real estate projects and Kanne ran its in-house real estate operations."

The Los Angeles City Council approved a 41-story, 710-foot residential tower with 466 apartments to be built above The Bloc's existing parking structure at 7th and Flower. The new residential component will join an existing fitness club, retail shops, a 26-story Sheraton hotel, and 33 floors of office space within The Bloc. Washington, D.C.-based National Real Estate Advisors will develop the project under CEO Jerry Kanne. Kanne worked in the Peace Corps, traded lumber, earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Iowa, practiced at Arnold & Porter, cofounded Counts & Kanne, and later led in-house real estate operations for a large pension fund before heading National Real Estate Advisors, which manages about $4 billion in assets.

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