photography by Kevin Begovich
Reprinted from DOWNTOWN Magazine Summer 2024
It’s not every day that you hear about a native New Yorker leaving for another metropolis, but for Nick Griffin, who has now been the Executive Director at the DTLA Alliance for the past five years, and has lived in LA for the past eight years, timing and family made the decision easier.
“I had been in the real estate business in NYC for over 10 years before we made the move to LA,” says Griffin. “Before that, I did marketing and business development work in the media and technology industries. He grew up in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, “so I’ve got the streets and playgrounds of New York in my soul.”
“The move to LA was for a mix of personal and professional reasons,” Griffin continues. “My wife works in the entertainment industry, so it made sense for her career, and she was pregnant with our second child, so was dreading another winter of strollers in the snow! I’d had a great run as a broker during a real golden era for New York City, while Bloomberg was Mayor and the city was rebuilding post 9/11, but I was ready for a change.”
At one point, Griffin was serving as a board chair of an arts collective called Flux Factory, that played a pivotal role in the revitalization of Long Island City.
“That really broadened my perspective on what was possible for other cities. Projects like these often intersected with work of Business Improvement Districts, so when the opportunity in Downtown LA arose, it seemed like a natural fit, and a unique opportunity to combine my passion for real estate with my experience in marketing and business development, and my interests in arts and culture, technology and media.”
While Griffin’s initial transition to DTLA was smooth, navigating the city through the pandemic has been challenging. “DTLA was on a great streak of growth and revitalization for my first five years at the BID, leading up to 2020, and while there were the usual day-to-day challenges of managing a busy central business district, nothing prepared us for what we and other major cities have faced through the depths of the pandemic and now with the significant shifts we are seeing in the office sector, with hybrid and remote work and the impacts that is having on the rest of Downtown. For someone who loves cities the way I do, it’s hard to see them suffer.”
Griffin adds, “It has also been rewarding in a lot of ways. The Downtown community has dealt with great challenges during this time but has really risen to the occasion, coming together to support essential workers and local businesses in ways that have been deeply in-spiring. And our organization has really leaned into our mission, redoubling our efforts on the basics of keeping the District safe and clean, but also undertaking innovative new projects like the development of a cutting-edge virtual tour platform and a ground-breaking augmented reality program – things we might never have done if not for the opportunity that so often comes with crisis. One of the things that makes DTLA such an exciting place to focus on is that it’s what we affectionately call the “last great unfinished city” – with so much potential for growth, and for innovation, because it’s not fully built out like some older cities, it has the potential to be a leader in the next wave of urbanism, the cities of the future. The work we are doing at the intersection of art, technology and urbanism is breaking new ground and I’m immensely grateful to have the opportunity to be part of it.”
Griffin is animated about new projects. “I’m an urbanism nerd so what I’m most excited about is the opening of the Metro Regional Connector, which will connect all of the North-South and East-West subway lines, so you can get from one end of the system to the other with a one-seat ride.”The DTLA Alliance also recently developed an Augmented App, which you can read about more in this issue of DOWNTOWN. “A little further down the road, we’re thrilled to be hosting the World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028. Those are moments when LA will be on the world stage, and DTLA will be playing a starring role!” downtownla.com DTM