Speaker Spotlight: David Ruddick of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

David Roddick, Group Director of Strategic Relationships and New Ventures for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield/" title="Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield" class="company-link">Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), was featured in Commercial’s Observer’s 2022 Future Forward LA Event.

URW is an owner, developer and operator of sustainable, high-quality real estate assets in the most dynamic cities in Europe and the United States. URW operates 80 shopping centres in 12 countries. These centres attract over 900 million visits annually and provide a unique platform for retailers and brands to connect with consumers.

Partner Insights: What retail real estate opportunities do you see emerging in the LA market? How does this differ from other markets in your global portfolio?

David Ruddick: LA is one of the great creative hubs of inspiration in the world. Not only is it rich with cultural history, but it is also the headquarters of so many creative houses; this allows for a movement of innovation across a number of different areas, such as entertainment, technology, wellness, dining, and the arts. The immersive experience in LA allows for continued invention of these platforms.

We recently launched Westfield Rise, our inhouse media platform, which will allow brands to amplify and connect with the Westfield community in a more creative and meaningful way. I strongly believe that LA will have a large role to play in the success of the global venture.

PI: How is URW innovating to deliver new retail experiences to the LA market?

DR: URW is centric on capturing the zeitgeist of communities in delivering places of culture and being focused on embracing culture, community and creativity resulting in commerce. Having such a significant presence in Los Angeles and being connected to many creative houses, we are able to uniquely explore partnerships in order to deliver experiences in our iconic locations in Century City and Westfield Topanga. Beyond the US network, we have an opportunity to discuss scale with our partners in major UK and European markets.

This conversation with our partners aligns with our strategies to be able to deliver experiences in the best cities and best markets around the world, allowing our partners a seamless transition across these cities in within our key hubs.

PI: URW has expanded on leasing opportunities for retail brands at LAX? How are you working to bring more retail brands into the mix, and what competitive advantage does this bring to the airport?

DR: One of the key successes of URW is the key conversations we can have with our brand partners. As I mentioned above, being able to talk about a true global platform in the best cities and best markets in North America, the UK, and continental Europe is a very rich and meaningful discussion. Adding to this, our Airports business, and the ability for our brand partners to connect with very important travel customer only enhances this discussion. URW currently operates three airports and seven terminals across the US with an ambition to grow. We have a keen eye for innovation at LAX at present with its major redevelopment as the hosting city with the 2028 Olympics and the JFK Terminal 1 which has a mandate to reimagine the airport passenger experience arriving and departing from New York.

PI: How does your team approach designing retail experiences for the LA market, versus LA’s thriving tourism industry? 

DR: As a team, when we sit and look at our placemaking experience for retail and tourism, there is a consistent theme of putting the customer first. However, we have to acknowledge the mindset of the customer visiting our locations.

In relation to our retail platform, developing the cities of the future where people can live, work and play is always top of mind. A lot of mindfulness about curating experiences and the integration of workspace is always a priority.

With regards to our travel business, it is always evolving around efficiency. The travel customer, whilst being important and lucrative to our platform, is focused on efficiency of time and seamless transition to their destination. Our diligence with curation of spaces to serve our customer’s basic task of getting a morning coffee through to a better dining experience is must to connect with the travel customer. Beyond this, we have great ambition to connect with local artisans, entertainment and our luxury customer. To put it simply, as a curator of space, we need to be laser focused on the convergence of convenience, experience, and technology.

The Westfield brand has such wonderful connection with the community in Los Angeles and a global reach which may amplify the marketplace beyond physical offerings.