Benjamin Schall
CEO and president at AvalonBay Communities
Since becoming its leader two years ago, Benjamin Schall has overseen AvalonBay’s emergence into the competitive Los Angeles and Southern California marketplace.
With over 50 communities spanning Los Angeles to San Diego, and 16,000 single-
family and multifamily homes in its area portfolio, the firm has become a dominant player in a highly dense metropolitan space. Using offices in both L.A. and Irvine, AvalonBay relies on local teams to optimize decisions unique to each municipality.
“It’s an important market for us,” said Schall. “[Los Angeles] is one of the real meccas of the world, and of the U.S. It has a diverse employment base and set of businesses that we think will grow and prosper. It will continue to be a focus area for us going forward.”
Recent projects include AVA Arts District, an upcoming community of 475 apartments in the L.A. Arts District that includes 55,000 square feet of retail space; and Avalon Brea Place, a collection of 653 apartments and 3,900 square feet of retail that repurposes existing land near State Route 57 in Brea. All told, AvalonBay’s Los Angeles footprint represents a little less than 12 percent of the firm’s total portfolio.
Schall emphasized that AvalonBay has one of the strongest balance sheets in the real estate business as it carries low leverage, holds north of $2 billion of liquidity, and is positioned to take advantage of opportunities focused on long-term property investment and value creation in the Southern California marketplace.
“We’ve been in these markets for 20 to 30 years, and we’ll be in these markets for another 20 to 30 years,” he said.
Schall has been with AvalonBay since 2021, and said he is grateful for the opportunity to lead a team of established professionals.
“In many ways, I think about my role as the steward of our culture,” said Schall. “It goes back to the founding of AvalonBay, and our cultural values still very much ring true: They are based on integrity, a spirit of caring, and continuous improvement. That drives who we are and our leadership focus.”
