L. A. Growth to Spur Changes in Building Uses, Investors Told

Los Angeles’ fast-growing population, traffic problems and the slow-growth movement will encourage more retailers and developers to utilize more niche marketing techniques to succeed in the next decade, according to a local marketing executive.

At a seminar for foreign investors, N. Richard Lewis, president of Los Angeles-based Lewis & Associates, also said several changes are in store for the city’s residents.

More buildings will provide both office space and apartments so that people won’t have to make long commutes, Lewis said, and many buildings will have elementary schools and day-care centers so parents can be near their children during working hours.

Changing demographics, coupled with the slow-growth movement, will also result in a slowdown in construction and soaring land prices and rents, Lewis said.

Developers will also need to step up marketing efforts and make their projects better serve the needs of local residents if they want to improve their chances of having a project approved by government officials and others, he said.