New real estate reporter at LA Times

Peter Hong, who has been covering the Phil Spector murder trial for the Los Angeles Times, is joing the paper’s business news desk to cover residential real estate, according to a memo from business editor Davan Maharaj posted on LA Observed.

Maharaj wrote, “Real estate and urban renewal have been major themes in Peter’s tenure at the paper, which began in the now-defunct City Times bureau in 1994. His first piece was a Column One on the renewal of the West Adams neighborhood. He told the story of the region’s economy through figures like a San Gabriel hot sauce (now you’re talking!) magnate and the nation’s largest auto dealership in El Monte.

“Much of Peter’s investigative work has dealt with land use. He uncovered Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden’s ties to night club owners who lavished him with campaign cash and expensive gifts and revealed the flouting of fire codes and safety laws in downtown’s loft conversions. As an investigative reporter, Peter, along with Joe Mathews, exposed corruption at Compton Community College that was followed by the imprisonment of a board member.

“Outside of Metro, Peter traveled to Iraq, where he uncovered a Baghdad real estate boom with Beverly Hills prices.”

Read more here.