Beverly Hills Seeks to Woo Executives From Asia : Business: Trade mission is hoping to persuade multinational corporations to locate their U.S. offices in the gilded enclave.
Not many cities with a population of 35,000 organize formal trade missions to Asia. But then, there are not many cities like Beverly Hills.
The town’s ritzy reputation and celebrity-rich environment will be key parts of the marketing campaign by city officials to business executives in Tokyo and Hong Kong. A contingent led by Mayor Allan Alexander will spend a week in the Far East beginning Friday in an effort to promote tourism and persuade executives of several multinational corporations to locate their U.S. offices in the gilded enclave.
The group has targeted entertainment companies at the top of their tenant wish list, hoping to capitalize on the recent takeovers by Japanese corporations of some of Hollywood’s largest film studios. City representatives, including Chamber of Commerce President Ed Brown and Kerman Beriker, chairman of the visitors bureau, will meet with executives of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., whose $6.59-billion purchase of MCA Inc. in November was the largest takeover of an American firm by a Japanese company.
Trade mission members also are planning to meet with officials from the Sony Corp., which last year paid $3.41 billion for Columbia Pictures Entertainment Co. and $2 billion for CBS Records. The group’s message is simple: Big money, big business and big-time film industry executives will find what they’re looking for in Beverly Hills.
“Beverly Hills has a long tradition of relations with the entertainment world,” Alexander said. “The city is known for the movie stars that live and work here as well as the large number of entertainment companies that lease or own buildings here. It just seems natural to pursue that business for Beverly Hills.”
The William Morris Agency and Creative Artists Agency, whose chairman, Michael Ovitz, engineered the Matsushita takeover, already have their headquarters in Beverly Hills. Record and film mogul David Geffen plans to construct his office there and several other entertainment companies are also looking at moving to the city, according to Chamber of Commerce officials.
The film industry angle is especially appropriate for this trade group. Alexander, an entertainment industry attorney, counts among his clients Columbia Pictures and represents several film stars, including Kim Basinger. Brown, a two-time former mayor, serves as a real estate consultant for the Geffen Corp., 20th Century Fox and CAA.
But Beverly Hills is by no means limiting itself to entertainment industry heavyweights. It can’t. The fact is, the city has been hurt by the economic roller-coaster ride that saw two of Beverly Hills’ biggest and most visible firms--Drexel Burnham Lambert and Columbia Savings & Loan--plunge into insolvency with the crash of the thrift and junk bond markets. Nearly 300,000 square feet once occupied by the two companies now lies empty in Beverly Hills, and the vacancy rate for the city’s overall commercial property space is close to 25%.
“The goal of the chamber’s economic development program is to bring executive offices to Beverly Hills to fill up the vacancies,” Brown said. “Basically we’re looking at high-end businesses, but not just in entertainment. We’re trying to build a foundation here so we don’t have to rely so much on tourism and the local retail trade.”
The city also is trying to overcome a reputation for aloofness that has driven businesses to other sites. The glitziness associated with some of the city’s retail trade has not always sat well with corporate executives, according to Bill Boyd, executive director of the chamber.
“There is a definite plan now to overcome that,” he said. “The name Beverly Hills is known throughout the world, but they’re aware of things like Rodeo Drive in corporate America and corporate Japan, not that we’ve got all this office space here.”
The group’s itinerary includes meetings with executives from Yokohama Sogo, the department store giant; Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd., and the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations. Trade mission representatives will also meet with reporters from Kikkan Kogyo Shinbum, Japan’s largest newspaper, as well as several other publications. Other meetings are tentatively scheduled with officials from Nissan and several banks.
Beverly Hills residents won’t have to pay the bill. The trip is being sponsored by Japan Air Lines and the Peninsula Hotel Group. Alexander said either he or his law firm will pay his travel expenses, and the hotel accommodations are free.
“With the economy generally slow, the entertainment area is one that has continued to prosper, so it makes sense for us to pursue that,” Alexander said. “But we’re definitely not trying to exclude any other businesses.”
