Real Conversations, Real Estate

Valuing real estate increasingly means forecasting industries that may look very different a decade from now.

Cynthia Nelson (FTI Consulting) joins Richard K. Green (USC Lusk Center for Real Estate) to discuss the forces reshaping commercial real estate, from distressed debt and refinancing challenges to the future of entertainment production, data centers, and California's economy. Drawing on her experience in restructuring, Nelson explains how investors, lenders, and owners find solutions when markets shift faster than expectations.

Highlights include:

• Revisiting the aftermath of Southern California's aerospace downturn in the 1990s
• How workouts and restructurings help lenders and borrowers find common ground
• Why some multifamily properties face refinancing challenges despite strong occupancy
• California's extraordinary investment potential, despite its affordability and governance challenges
• Where investors are beginning to see opportunity in distressed office assets and commercial real estate debt

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Water is increasingly behaving in ways that defy our plans. How should cities prepare when the risks keep changing?

Roni Deitz (Arcadis) joins Richard K. Green (USC Lusk Center for Real Estate) to explore how water is reshaping real estate, infrastructure, and long-term investment. Starting with recent storms like Hurricane Helene and their devastating impacts, the conversation expands to examine a new reality: the baseline assumptions guiding water and development may no longer hold.

Highlights include:

• Why mapped flood risk often misses the reality of risk over time
• The limits of engineering, and why aligned land use decisions are necessary for resilience
• What “one water” thinking looks like in practice, from stormwater to wastewater
• How cities like New York are aligning policy, finance, and infrastructure in flood-prone areas
• How integrating policy and practice can make cities more stable and investible

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Making more affordable housing is challenging, but it’s far from impossible.

Kyle Ransford (Cardinal Investments) joins Richard K. Green (USC Lusk Center for Real Estate) to offer a practical look at operating in today’s multifamily market. The conversation covers Ransford’s path from early-90s dealmaking to building a portfolio focused on workforce and affordable housing across Southern California.

Ransford explains how Section 8 functions in practice, from lease-up timelines to tenant stability. He also argues that strong management, often more than physical upgrades, drives value in a given property, especially in smaller buildings. The episode also explores rising operating costs, the realities of owning in Los Angeles, and why expanding condo development and homeownership could help ease supply constraints.

Highlights include:

• A realistic view of Section 8 housing’s challenges and opportunities
• The top upgrades tenants feel first, from air conditioning to in-unit laundry
• Why property management drives value in the majority of acquisitions
• The growing gap between operating costs and achievable rents
• How condo development and liability reform could unlock more housing supply

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