Charlie Smith and Blake Rogers

Charlie Smith oversees one of the top-performing brokerages in Los Angeles at JLL. Smith manages agency leasing, tenant representation and industrial teams throughout Downtown L.A., West L.A., the South Bay and North L.A., and the Inland Empire.

A product of UCLA, Smith has more than 20 years of commercial real estate experience in L.A., including with Equity Office Properties and Thomas Properties Group.

JLL has been busy this year marketing  the beleaguered but prominent Gas Company Tower. Fesia Davenport, CEO of the County of L.A., has her eye on the Downtown L.A. office building, and plans to offer $215 million to fill it with county departments. While that price is for 66 percent less than what the office tower was valued at three years ago, it’s notably the exact same amount the building was most recently appraised at in May.

JLL also represented CIM Group as it secured a landmark 200,000-square-foot lease with the Southern California Gas Company, which is set to leave the Gas Company Tower and move to an office about a block away in 2026.

Meanwhile, Blake Rogers leads the firm’s multihousing group for the Western U.S. He returned to JLL last year after a stint at Walker & Dunlop. Rogers has more than 14 years of experience in commercial real estate finance, during which time he has completed more than $8 billion in transactions involving more than 23,500 units. 

In early September, JLL arranged the $62 million deal for the 210-unit Canvas LA multifamily building near Dodger Stadium thanks largely to Rogers’s team securing a $40 million Freddie Mac loan. Earlier this year, it also represented Lincoln Property Company as it secured $65 million in financing from Deutsche Bank for a six-building office and retail campus with 583,580 square feet on L.A.’s Westside.