Establishing the Santa Monica CEO Roundtable to Drive Economic Recovery and Growth
Request by Mayor Torosis and Mayor Pro Tem Zwick
Santa Monica is confronting serious economic headwinds. Hybrid work schedules, shifting consumer behavior, regional competition, and continued concerns about safety and cleanliness have all contributed to historically high commercial and office vacancies. Today, roughly 35 percent of our office space is vacant, 16 percent of our storefronts are unoccupied, and in the heart of our city nearly 50 percent of Promenade storefronts and 70 percent of Santa Monica Place remain empty.
These indicators reflect an economic disruption that requires urgent, coordinated action.
Over the past several months, the Council has adopted the Realignment Plan to strengthen the basic conditions that allow economic activity to return. The plan focuses on restoring public safety, improving cleanliness, reinforcing enforcement, and reinvesting in our public spaces so that Santa Monica is once again a place where businesses feel confident to invest.
We are already hearing from property owners that these efforts are shifting market sentiment. At Santa Monica Place, several well-known brands that had previously passed on opportunities in our city are now reconsidering. This is an encouraging signal that confidence can be rebuilt when local government delivers on safety, order, and reliability.
With these improvements underway, Santa Monica is ready for the next phase of economic recovery. That phase requires direct, ongoing collaboration with the private sector. The cities that have recovered the fastest from economic shocks have created structured executive advisory bodies that bring government and business leaders together to design solutions in real time. Examples include:
• San Francisco’s Roadmap to Downtown Recovery Executive Council, which convenes CEOs and anchor institutions to advise on economic strategy and regulatory reform.
• New York City’s Business Leaders Council, which provides continuous market intelligence and shapes business retention and attraction efforts. • Boston’s CEO Advisory Group, which works directly with the mayor on commercial corridor revitalization and investment readiness. • Seattle’s Downtown Recovery Task Force, which integrates business, tourism, tech, and arts leaders to coordinate recovery strategies. • West Hollywood’s Business Roundtable model, which offers a streamlined, non Brown Act forum for candid dialogue between city leadership and commercial stakeholders.
These cities have shown that executive-level engagement helps government understand market conditions, reduce barriers to investment, and ensure policy tools are aligned with real-world business needs.
In order to fully effectuate our Realignment Plan, Santa Monica should establish its own CEO-level advisory body that reflects our local economy and supports the Realignment Plan’s Economic Opportunity and Growth goals. The Santa Monica CEO Roundtable will be convened by the City Manager and Mayor on an ad-hoc basis not subject to the Brown Act.
The Santa Monica CEO Roundtable will provide the City with a structured opportunity to:
• Engage top executives and institutional leaders in strategic dialogue about Santa Monica’s economic conditions and opportunities.
• Receive real-time market intelligence on leasing, development trends, financing, and workforce needs.
• Support the revitalization and re-tenanting of Downtown, the Promenade, Santa Monica Place, and other major commercial districts.
• Strengthen the alignment between our Safe and Clean initiatives and business confidence.
• Position Santa Monica to maximize economic benefits from upcoming global events, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 2026 Goldenvoice festival, the 2027 Super Bowl, and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Roundtable will complement and not duplicate existing community advisory structures. It addresses a current gap: a high-level, executive venue that is nimble, data-informed, and focused on accelerating business attraction and long-term economic competitiveness.
Therefore, we direct the City Manager to return within 30 days with a detailed framework for establishing the Santa Monica CEO Roundtable, including:
1. A clear purpose and scope that aligns with the Realignment Plan’s Economic Opportunity and Growth pillar.
2. Recommended membership criteria that ensure representation from major employers, commercial property owners, hospitality and tourism leaders, retail and entertainment tenants, innovation and creative-sector firms, financial and philanthropic partners, and institutional anchors.
3. A proposed governance structure, including the convening process, selection of Co-Chairs, meeting cadence, and the potential for working groups or subcommittees.
4. A description of how the Roundtable will operate as a non-Brown Act, advisoryonly body, and how recommendations and insights will be reported publicly to maintain transparency and accountability.