President of Watson Land Is Retiring

Richard M. Cannon, president and chief executive of Watson Land Co., is retiring after leading the Carson-based company for 18 years.

The board of directors of the private real estate investment trust named as his successor Bruce A. Choate, who has been the company’s chief financial officer since 1991.

Cannon, 61, had been with Irvine Co. for 16 years as a vice president and corporate officer prior to joining Watson. He also served on the boards of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce,

Choate, 54, joined Watson Land after serving as chief financial officer of Bixby Ranch Co., another privately held REIT. He begins his new duties at Watson Land on Jan. 1.

Watson Land dates back two centuries to Rancho San Pedro, California’s first Spanish land grant that included 75,000 acres of land in and around what is now Carson. One of the daughters of the original rancho owner married into the Watson family in the late 1800s.

Since embarking on a development program in the early 1960s, the company now owns and manages about 12 million square feet of industrial, office and technology buildings and business centers, primarily in the South Bay.