Ben Reiling

Name: Ben Reiling

Age: 59

Home: Pasadena

Profession: President, Zelman Development Co., Los Angeles.

Latest accomplishment: Closing the deal for the development of the Burbank Empire Center, a 105-acre regional mall near Buena Vista Street and the Golden State Freeway. The property will become home to big-box retailers such as Target, Lowe’s and Costco and will include restaurants, two hotels and office space. Reiling’s company is the third to work on the project, which is taking shape on land once used by Lockheed for aircraft assembly that was listed as a Superfund site in the 1980s because of toxic chemicals found in the soil. Reiling said the soil has since been cleaned up.

Goals for 2001: To get the center open “on time, on schedule and on budget,” in October. Reiling said he sees the $100-million center as a “great reuse story. It’s taking what was a fallow piece of property and turning it into something for the city. It gives the region another major shopping center with jobs.”