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Amy R. Forbes joined the firm in 1984 and is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Ms. Forbes' practice is concentrated on land use planning issues, including zoning, planning, the California Environmental Quality Act, and municipal law. The primary focus of her land use practice is at the administrative level, including the negotiation of agreements with local governments and redevelopment agencies, the supervision of the preparation of environmental documentation, the processing of entitlements through public hearings and community meetings and other administrative proceedings, as well as legal issues associated with project development and construction. In addition to her extensive land use experience, Ms. Forbes has a solid grounding in eminent domain and CEQA litigation.
During a one-year leave of absence from the firm in 1988-89, she had the honor and opportunity to work on land use planning issues at the Crown Property Bureau, the agency of the Thai government which manages the King of Thailand's property, under a Luce Foundation Fellowship.
Ms. Forbes graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Princeton University in 1980 (earning a certification in the transportation program) and from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1984, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif. Ms. Forbes has been ranked in Chambers USA since 2006, and is currently a Tier 1 lawyer, the highest rank. She has been listed as a Southern California SuperLawyer since 2005, and is listed in the Legal 500 and 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. In 1999, she was named one of the fifty most powerful women lawyers in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal, and was later named one of the twelve Best Real Estate Lawyers in California by California Law Business. From 1990 to 1996 she was on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Conservancy, the largest local preservation organization in the Country, serving as President of the organization from 1993-1996. She has also served on the Board of the USC School of Architecture Guild and the Los Angeles Free Clinic. She is currently on the board of the Center Theatre Group and is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.
Representative Matters - Bay Meadows Land Company. Ms. Forbes serves as lead counsel representing Bay Meadows Land Company in connection with the development of Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo, California, valued in excess of 1.4 billion dollars (ongoing) . The first phase is completed, with over 2 million square feet of new development including a 900,000 square foot office campus for Franklin Resources, 760 single-family multi-family housing units and a mixed use complex including a market, health club, retail, live/work and office components. The second phase of development, which will involve the 83 acre main track site, was approved for more than two million square feet of additional mixed-use development. Currently, Ms. Forbes is leading the effort to implement the project approvals, including the joint development of a train station and related facilities, and is also working on litigation related to an unsuccessful effort to overturn the approvals at the ballot box.
- Fifteen Group, LLC, Los Angeles, California. Ms. Forbes is representing the company in its redevelopment of Wyvernwood Gardens in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, one of the largest privately owned housing complexes west of Chicago. The existing housing complex consists of 1,175 multi-family units, on 68 acres and as part of a community based planning process, the entire site is being replanned and rezoned for approximately 4,400 new rental and ownership units, 300,000 square feet of commercial/retail space and extensive civic and park spaces. The total project value is estimated at more than $2 billion.
- Hollywood Park, Inglewood, California. Ms. Forbes was land use counsel to Stockbridge Real Estate Fund in their acquisition of Hollywood Park racetrack for approximately $260 million in 2005. She was Stockbridge's lead counsel in the successful process to secure approval of the redevelopment of the 238-acre Hollywood Park Racetrack with a new mixed-used community. (2005-ongoing). The project includes approximately 3,000 housing units, a 620,000 square foot retail component, a hotel, a 4-acre civic site currently anticipated to be utilized as a school, and approximately 25-acres of publicly accessible parks and open space.
- JPI. Throughout California, for more than ten years Ms. Forbes has served as land use counsel to JPI on a variety of multi-family projects. JPI is one of the largest developers of luxury apartments in the Country. This year she helped secure the approvals for a 270 unit project at Hollywood and Highland. Other projects include residential developments in Marina del Rey, Corona, and Glendora.
- Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles, California. Ms. Forbes serves as real estate counsel to this educational institution headquartered in Downtown Los Angeles. She is currently working on a high-rise residential/educational building (valued upwards of $100 million) adjacent to the Variety Arts Center.
- Sakioka Family, Orange County, California. Ms. Forbes has represented Sakioka Farms and related entities, in the development of their extensive holdings throughout Southern California, for more than twenty-one years. In September of 2005, she represented Sakioka in the sale of their fee interest in South Coast Metro Center to Stockbridge Real Estate Fund, and this year jointly represented Stockbridge and the Sakioka entities in their successful efforts to re-entitle the hotel/retail portion of the mixed use project for 484 residential condominiums. She is now working with the developer in the completion of the contracts and relocation of easements necessary to undo the previous configuration of the site and permit construction to proceed.
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