William Witte
Founder and CEO at Related California
Bill Witte’s Related California is a go-to developer for many of Southern California’s most ambitious projects, and 2025 has been no exception.
Since delivering Downtown L.A.’s $1 billion, Gehry-designed project called The Grand three years ago, the firm has expanded its focus from downtowns to what Witte calls “urban projects in suburban locations.” As such, Witte’s pipeline currently features a $3 billion plan to turn an outdated mall in Santa Ana into more than 3,000 apartments, a hotel, senior housing and 350,000 square feet of retail adjacent to South Coast Plaza.
Also in Orange County, Related is replacing a former movie theater with a two-tower, 140-unit condo complex at Fashion Island in posh Newport Beach. And in Los Angeles County, the firm is opening a mixed-income, 275-unit apartment building atop a brand-new 50,000-square-foot Vons supermarket in Santa Monica.
Witte acknowledges that urban cores have struggled to rebound.
“COVID really hurt Downtown Los Angeles … it’s been a challenge,” he said, noting that office vacancies and public safety concerns continue to slow recovery. Still, he sees early signs of life as those centers stabilize.
And, while headlines exclaim a corporate exodus from California, Witte argues that “the bigger problem for California is working- and middle-class people leaving for affordability.”
On the policy front, Witte praised recent reforms to the dreaded California Environmental Quality Act as “hugely significant” for shaving years off approval timelines. But high interest rates, insurance costs and the sharp increase in construction costs — up 30 to 40 percent since pre-COVID, Witte said — still threaten project feasibility, and housing production in general.
Meanwhile, Related’s affordable housing division is pushing forward with 47 projects with the help of affordable housing funds and subsidies. Without new funding sources like a proposed $10 billion state housing bond in 2026, Witte warned, “there will be a retrenchment on the affordable side.”
And, yet, somehow, through all that, Related California continues to deliver some of the biggest housing projects in the state.
