By Melody Hanatani
Daily Press Staff Writer

PICO NEIGHBORHOOD It was a modestly-sized apartment building, $58,000 and the wise words of his father that jump-started Robert Kronovet’s long career in real estate.

It was 1984 and the budding filmmaker had invested in an apartment building in Columbus, Ohio, taking the advice of his father Saul Kronovet, an established New York attorney who developed properties in Houston, Silver Springs and Manhattan.

“He helped me understand the value in developing good quality housing,” the younger Kronovet said last week.

Though Kronovet would go on to sell the Columbus building only three years later, the brief period of ownership was enough to spawn a 24-year career in real estate.

Today, as the proprietor of Kronovet Realty Co. in Santa Monica, the native New Yorker-turned-Santa Monican manages and leases both his own and private apartment units on the Westside.

Now, as the newly-appointed chairman of the Pico Improvement Organization (PIO) — a merchants association that oversees economic development along Pico Boulevard from the Pacific Ocean to the city limits at Centinela Avenue — Kronovet is using his real estate fundamentals, firmly planted by his father, to enhance the array of businesses along the corridor.

The real estate broker was elected as the new head of the PIO earlier this month.

The Pico district is unlike any other business area in Santa Monica, the corridor characterized by diversity, from the high-end hotels on the west end, from the corporate chains like Subway, to the small mom and pops stores and restaurants, to the biggest draw of them all — Santa Monica College.

The chairman’s number one priority will be to both improve the businesses along the corridor as well as their relationship with the residents in the neighborhood. Kronovet himself is both a business owner and resident of the area — his real estate office is located on the east end of Pico Boulevard and his home is located just a few blocks south.

“I’m here to promote the businesses and commerce on the boulevard and keep the residents happy,” Kronovet said. “The merchants are connected with the residents and the residents are connected with the merchants.”

One way to realize that goal is to build upon the successful “Pico Artists at Work” festival, which will be entering its third year this fall.

The event, which showcases the various artists and galleries along Pico Boulevard, attracted 700 people in its first year, 2006, and more than doubled that number last fall. This year’s festival will feature two large British-style double deck buses that will hosts tours along the boulevard. He hopes the added feature will double last year’s turnout.

Kronovet, who ran unsuccessfully for the Rent Control Board last year and plans to run again this year, was born and raised in New York City. After spending a few years at New York University studying film, he transferred to the University of Ohio where he received his bachelors in science.

In 1987, after selling the apartment building in Columbus, Kronovet moved west to focus on his filmmaking career full-time while working on real estate development part-time. The real estate trade helped his filmmaking career, said Kronovet, who has sold several films at the American Film Market.

Over the years, he has produced several films, including sports documentaries, and has worked as a cameraman for Diane Sawyer and CBS News, Pete Wilson and Ronald Reagan. Along with the family photos, a wall in Kronovet’s office also features photographs of him with Wilson and Reagan.

About five years ago, he decided to focus solely on the real estate aspect of his career.

“I thought I could contribute more to real estate,” Kronovet said.

Besides his real estate management business, Kronovet is busy trying to enact changes as the new chairman, changes that could include a Web cast of the association’s meetings and possible parking solutions for the merchants and residents.

“I welcome their input,” Kronovet said of residents and business owners that aren’t a part of the PIO. “I want them to feel this is their association.”

melodyh@smdp.com