Before embarking on a legal career in real estate, Forbes was a civil engineer.
"I wasn't a very good civil engineer," acknowledged the Gibson Dunn partner. "I wasn't really into designing transit systems or figuring out how many cars you need to service a particular route. I was much more focused on why bad decisions got made."
A growing fascination with technology and how public policy shapes its implementation pushed Forbes toward law school. Her first big legal victory involved a variance for a celebrity whose hedge height towered 9 feet above the limit.
Fast forward three decades when Forbes played a major role in securing the Los Angeles Rams' return to Southern California.
"To get the team, you needed a stadium," she said. "My mission was to get that stadium, and we had to get it fast. We had to get it in a way that wasn't going to be dragged out."
Representing the original landowner since 2004 or "back when they were still doing horse races" at Hollywood Park, Forbes worked with Rams owner Stan Kroenke on the real estate sale for more than 230 acres in Inglewood. She also handled the plan to get stadium use approved through an initiative process, which required a detailed rewriting of all the land-use planning documents.
"Then we packaged up all the approvals and stapled them to an initiative petition," Forbes said. "We collected signatures from 22,000 registered voters in Inglewood and that was enough to put it to a vote."
That initiative was never voted on because the Inglewood city council decided to approve it outright.
"We collected 7,000 more signatures in favor [of the stadium] than had voted in the last mayoral election," Forbes explained. "So the council, I think, felt very secure that it was a very popular potential project, and they just adopted it outright without an election."
The $1.6 billion stadium, part of a 300-acre mixed-use development, will hold 80,000 fans. The project will include a 6,000-seat performing arts venue and residential, retail and office components. A park and a lake are also planned.
The LA Rams stadium construction, now underway, has helped fuel a building boom in Inglewood, according to Forbes, who is working on other mixed-use and residential projects in the city. A mayor focused on safety. along with close proximity to the beach and LAX airport, are other positives fueling interest.
"It is transforming Inglewood already today," Forbes said of excitement surrounding the stadium. "And they've got this phenomenal main street that is just ripe for a renaissance."
- Shane Nelson
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