Robert Lowe

Lowe Enterprises Inc.

Age: 57

Specialty: Real estate development, investment and management

Recent Deals: Developed 750,000-square-foot industrial park in Denver; developed new hotel at Wild Dunes resort in Charleston, S.C.

When Robert Lowe checks off a list of recent deals, the extent of his Brentwood firm’s diversification becomes clear. A distribution center in Los Angeles, two office buildings in Washington, D.C., an office park in Seattle, a resort in Palm Coast, Fla. these are a sampling of some of the company’s developments.

And development is only part of the company’s business. Lowe Enterprises manages properties across the country (with a strong emphasis on hotels) and invests and manages properties on behalf of pension funds.

This diversification strategy was envisioned from the very beginning of the company 25 years ago, said Lowe, who is president and CEO.

“We started out in the development business in 1972 with the intention of diversifying into related businesses,” said Lowe. “All that (diversification) comes from identifying opportunities and building business around those opportunities.”

Industry insiders say Lowe Enterprises is one of the best real estate companies in the country, in part because of Lowe’s broad-based knowledge. “He understands every nuance of the real estate business,” said Bob Safai, owner of Madison Partners. “In addition to being diversified and knowledgeable, he has his finger on the pulse of so many markets.”

Despite Lowe Enterprises’ reach across the country, Lowe himself remains strongly connected to Los Angeles. Lowe grew up in San Gabriel, attended Claremont McKenna College and left Southern California for only a short time to get his MBA at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

He now chairs the New L.A. Marketing Partnership (NewLAMP), spreading the word that L.A. is a great place to do business. Lowe rarely passed up an opportunity to sing the praises of L.A. “We have the most diversified, best trained, most entrepreneurial work force in the world, the best climate and the most diversity of things to do when not working,” said Lowe. “And it’s a great part of the world to take advantage of the growing economy that borders the Pacific.”

Lowe has made believers of at least two important people in his life. Lowe’s oldest son Rob has been working at the company for the past five years and his younger son Mike will join the company in July after he earns his MBA from Stanford.

Lisa Steen Proctor