Meet Broker and Crime Fighter

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At the end of a long work week, broker Carter Magnin doesn’t unwind with his fellow real estate buddies by going to the latest hot restaurant or bar. Instead, the 27-year-old Cushman & Wakefield associate goes on a foot patrol through the streets of downtown Los Angeles. He’s a reserve officer for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Magnin regularly works 16 to 32 hours a month, often patrolling Spring Street on foot.

“One shift I might meet with different business owners and residents, shaking hands with people and maintaining a safe environment,” he said. “The next shift I might respond to a burglary in progress. It’s exciting because there’s so much variation.”

Magnin said it can be tough to balance his real estate work with his police work, but he’ll continue as long as the city affords him the opportunity.

“At times, it’s challenging to do both, but I think when you’re motivated and passionate, you find the time,” he said.

Red and Blue

Restaurateur Anthony Carron likes to bring flavors from his hometown of St. Louis to his L.A. eateries, Top Round Roast Beef and 800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria.

So it’s no surprise that his love for another St. Louis institution, the Cardinals, also followed him to town. The 37-year-old said he watches about 100 Cardinals games a year.

“I’m a freak for the Cardinals,” he said.

It doesn’t hurt that his team made it to the World Series twice in the past three years. But he grew up watching Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith and hasn’t slacked since. A couple of years ago, he even dressed up as former Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols for Halloween.

He also hasn’t been swayed by his girlfriend, Hillary Calhoun, a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. They agreed to disagree when they went to a game at Chavez Ravine this year.

“It was fun,” he said. “I was in red and she was in blue.”

Revolutionary Development

Real estate broker Steven Gelber was interested to read the Business Journal’s recent story about local lender Broadway Federal Bank and the financial support it’s received from Asian-American banks.

But Gelber, 50, noted that the story left out a piece of international intrigue. Broadway sold its former headquarters building on Wilshire Boulevard just east of the Miracle Mile last year, but a sale could have closed more than a year earlier – if not for the Arab Spring.

In late 2010, Gelber, principal of Westwood brokerage Gelber Realty Corp., was close to selling the 4800 Wilshire building to the Egyptian Consulate. But massive protests broke out in Cairo in January 2011 and the deal fell apart soon after.

“In December, I thought I had a deal and left for Brazil for a vacation,” Gelber said. “Sure enough, 30 days later, there’s a full-scale revolution and we’ve got no deal.”

Gelber’s been in the real estate game a long time and he’s seen deals come and go for all sorts of reasons. But that was a first.

“In 30 years, I’d never lost a deal to a revolution,” he said.

Staff reporters Bethany Firnhaber, Jonathan Polakoff and James Rufus Koren contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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