2-Page Spread Single Page View Thumbnails | LABJ User Guide | Front Page | Table of Contents Previous Page Zoom In Zoom Out Next Page labusinessjournal.com LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNALL TM DIGITAL EDITION THE COMMUNITY OF BUSINESS www.labusinessjournal.com/digital WELCOME TO THE LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL DIGITAL EDITION To read your copy of the Digital Edition INSTRUCTION Please select a reading preference FOR PC/MAC How to read LABJ Digital Edition on iPad in iBooks: 1 TAP CENTER 2 TAP ‘OPEN WITH’ 3 TAP ‘iBOOKS’ Wait for gray bar with Wait for scroll down menu menu buttons to appear on and tap the iBooks icon. top of the PDF. Wait for PDF to load in iBOOKS. 2-Page Spread Single Page View Thumbnails | LABJ User Guide | Front Page | Table of Contents Previous Page Zoom In Zoom Out Next Page labusinessjournal.com LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL Volume 33, Number 24 THE COMMUNITY OF BUSINESSTM June 13 - 19, 2011 • $3.00 Media Developer Cited For Big Hazards REAL ESTATE: But Barry Shy says city had signed off on work. By ALFRED LEE Staff Reporter Earlier this year, city inspectors ordered major downtown developer Barry Shy to evacuate part of Eric Yoon is one of his apartment towers after uncovering life- among L.A. threatening safety hazards. businesspeople Violations were found on every floor of his Sixth tuning into TV in Street SB Manhattan building from the sub-basement Korea. PAGE 5 to the upper penthouse. Shy, who had converted the office building into 198 lofts, did large-scale construction without approval, inspectors concluded. This included demol- Services ishing four elevators, adding apartments on new floor space that hadn’t been inspected and constructing hall- ways that might not hold up in a fire. “I haven’t seen an order this major for a building Please see REAL ESTATE page 44 Festival Set: Pasquale Rotella with sketch and models of SPECIAL REPORT teepee installations for EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION upcoming Electric Daisy rave. How Gensler is RINGO H.W. CHIU/LABJ Guess which designing the executive drew the wow factor into highest pay last its new down- town digs. year in L.A.? No, PAGE 8 Losing Sleep it wasn’t perennial top dog Ray Irani at Occidental Transport Insomniac wants Electric Daisy back in L.A. Petroleum. He was By NATALIE JARVEY Staff Reporter spontaneous raves into well-planned weekend- Udvar-Hazy ousted by billionaire long festivals that draw thousands of people to Steven Udvar-Hazy, ASQUALE Rotella began staging his electronic some of the best-known venues in Los Angeles. who is now piloting Air Lease Corp., music dance parties almost two decades ago in Rotella, the founder and chief executive of Hol- PLos Angeles, when the so-called raves were lywood’s Insomniac Inc., is the guy who a company that went public just last staged at empty warehouses in dicey neighborhoods. brought raves mainstream. month. He wasn’t the only C-suite Back then, raves were an underground phe- But now, his signature event has left Los Angeles. occupant to do well. Cumulative pay nomenon, known for rampant use of the drug The death of an underage girl last summer at for chief executives at L.A.’s 50 ecstasy, a stimulant that kept the teen and twenty- Insomniac’s biggest concert, Electric Daisy Car- largest public companies rose Why the Port of something partygoers dancing all night – and get- nival, along with other problems, resulted in L.A. wants its ting into other trouble. 41 percent last year. money back Since then, he has transformed the almost- Please see EVENTS page 42 BEGINNING ON PAGE 16 from six truck companies. PAGE 10 Easing the Squeeze on Market Vendors MAIL TO: erna in Westchester who also runs Aliki’s Olive Oil GOVERNMENT: Inspection booths at several local farmers markets. fees reduced after complaints. After inquiries from the Business Journal, county health officials last week acknowledged that the fees By HOWARD FINE Staff Reporter have been out of line. They are now proposing to cut the health inspection fees for farmers’ market ven- Vendors at farmers’ markets have long com- dors by 30 percent. plained that Los Angeles County public health “It’s fair to say that we received input and made department inspectors routinely spend less than 10 another look,” said Angelo Bellomo, director of environ- minutes in their booths twice a year, yet charge for mental health with the county’s public health department. nearly two hours worth of inspection time, thereby The proposed reductions will be folded into an inflating inspection fees by at least a factor of four. entire inspection fee overhaul. A new fee schedule “It’s a corrupt system all aimed at generating that called for generally higher fees was set to take extra money for the county,” said Panagiotis RINGO H.W. CHIU/LABJ Theodoropoulos, the owner of Aliki’s Greek Tav- Please see GOVERNMENT page 43 Making a Stand: Theodoropoulos in booth. Real World Insight for Middle Market Companies www.gscpa.com 310.828.9798 2-Page Spread Single Page View Thumbnails | LABJ User Guide | Front Page | Table of Contents Previous Page Zoom In Zoom Out Next Page 2 LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL JUNE 13, 2011 LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL ® Ourformulaforvalueissimple. JUNE 13 - 19, 2011 VOLUME 33, NUMBER 24 RINGO H.W. CHIU/LABJ Page 10: Trucks at the Port of L.A., which wants repayment of some subsidies. DEVELOPMENT – Architecture firm Clients tell us that our superior ON THE COVER Grant Thornton Gensler is moving into new digs downtown, service makes their relationship 0-10 Big Other firms Statistically scale LLP Four mentioned significant with Grant Thornton a real value GOVERNMENT – In response to vigorous and the wow factor needs to be sky high. .8 for them. There’s no greater Audit 8.84 lower lower yes complaints about overcharging, the county RETAIL – Shoemaker K-Swiss Inc. is facing compliment than a strong Tax 8.72 lower lower yes will cut its rate for health inspections at an uphill climb as mounting losses drive recommendation, and a recent down its stock price. .9 Value for fees farmers markets. client satisfaction survey, 8.38/8.29 lower lower yes (audit/tax) REAL ESTATE – Major downtown TRANSPORTATION – The Port of Los conducted by an independent developer Barry Shy has been cited for Angeles wants $1.57 million of its money research firm funded by returned from six trucking companies, Grant Thornton LLP, tells the tale. significant building and safety violations at one of his apartment towers. But he claims claiming subsidized trucks didn’t make the 10 To find out more, access the results at everything’s in order. required number of trips to the port. Columns & features – Media Watch 10, GrantThornton.com/clientsatisfaction EVENTS – The big Electric Daisy rave has or contact Joel Anik, Managing Partner Technology 12, Banking & Finance 14, left Los Angeles after its disastrous show at at 213.596.3484 or [email protected]. Audit • Tax • Advisory Advertising & PR 15 the Coliseum last year. But the L.A. company that stages the event hopes to return. Grant Thornton refers to Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, an organization of independently owned and managedaccountingandconsultingfirms. THE LIST UP FRONT COMPENSATION – Steven Udvar-Hazy of Air Lease Corp. has unseated Ray Irani ADVERTISING – Media lab uses facial- of Occidental Petroleum as the highest Fisher & Phillips Value motion technology to see if people pay more paid executive of a Los Angeles public attention to Internet ads than TV Atlanta company. .16 commercials. .3 Charlotte RANKING – The pay of top executives of MEDIA – Reality didn’t meet the expectations Chicago L.A.’s 50 largest public companies. .17-18 Cleveland of a Burbank bar owner when he let a Spike TV show give his place a makeover. .3 Columbia INVESTMENTS & FINANCE Dallas REAL ESTATE – Finding banks balky, Denver Mark Wilbur of Employers Group came up Columns & features – LABJ 200 30, Fort Lauderdale with a novel way to self-finance the tenant Econowatch 32 Houston improvements at his new digs. .3 Irvine Columns & features – Page 3, REAL ESTATE Kansas City Regional Report 4 Many law firms talk about value as if it’s a new Las Vegas HOUSING – Los Angeles appears to be concept. At Fisher & Phillips LLP, our commitment Los Angeles 33 to value dates back to the founding of the 444 South Flower Street NEWS & ANALYSIS resisting the “double-dip” in prices. firm nearly 70 years ago. So how do we provide Suite 1590 CHART – A list of May home and condo sales this value? Los Angeles, CA 90071 MEDIA – Forever 21 and ethnic L.A. radio by neighborhood. .33 phone: (213) 330-4500 and television stations are getting into the Columns & features – Real Estate toll free: (866) 424-2168 We do only one thing: Represent employers in labor picture on new cable channels in South 37 fax: (213) 330-4501 Column and employment matters. You benefit from our deep Korea. .5 and broad expertise in the area of the law we Louisville TECHNOLOGY – Boingo Wireless’ stock know best. New England COMMENTARY has slid dramatically in its first month as a New Jersey public company, likely due to competitive COMMENT – Charles Crumpley wonders Our attorneys treat your legal problems as business New Orleans pressures. .5 problems, and help you avoid legal disputes. We are Orlando why state lawmakers are making lawbreakers responsive, we are economical, and we reward Philadelphia HOSPITALITY – Talk about government out of hotels that use flat sheets. .46 our associates for quality work, not just for billable Phoenix getting in your bed: Proposed legislation POLITICS – Tim Cavanaugh believes that hours.