With the Super Bowl approaching, the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the horizon and a growing calendar of cultural and tourism activations, Santa Monica leaders say the city has an opportunity to turn major events into lasting economic momentum. That was the focus of the second Builders Breakfast, convened by Community Collective Association at 1212 Santa Monica yesterday. The gathering brought together city, tourism, downtown, entertainment and business leaders to discuss Santa Monica’s economic renaissance and how the city can capitalize on global events coming to the Los Angeles region.
Mayor Caroline Torosis opened the gathering by pointing to a broader shift underway at City Hall moving Santa Monica from what she described as a “culture of yes,” in an effort to bring in new business and opportunity. “We are trying to move from a culture of no to a culture of yes,” Torosis said. “That does not mean saying yes to everything. It means finding a way to make good ideas work.”
The city’s Realignment Plan, adopted last year, represents a $60 million investment over 24 months in safety, cleanliness, economic development and activation. Torosis said the effort has already generated $29 million in new programmatic revenue, while crime has declined 12.5%. The Santa Monica Police Department is fully staffed for the first time in two decades, libraries have reopened, permit processing has improved and the city has created a $3 million tenant improvement fund aimed at helping fill large vacant commercial spaces.
Seventeen new businesses are committed to opening and seven housing projects are moving through the pipeline, Torosis said. The city is publishing its progress through a public Santa Monica Scorecard. “We want residents and businesses to be able to see the progress we are making,” Torosis said. “Accountability is part of building confidence in the city.”
Those changes come as Santa Monica prepares for a concentrated period of major events. The city hosted public FIFA World Cup viewing events this summer and is now preparing for Super Bowl-related programming with ESPN expected to broadcast live from the Santa Monica Pier. Planning for LA28 is also accelerating, including efforts to position Santa Monica as a destination for national hospitality houses.
Toru Toyokawa, general manager of 1212 Santa Monica, discussed the opportunity major global events present for local restaurants, hospitality businesses and gathering places throughout the city. With Santa Monica’s location, amenities and international profile, businesses have an opportunity to introduce new visitors to the city while giving residents and regional visitors more reasons to experience Santa Monica throughout the year. “These are the kinds of opportunities that can bring global attention to Santa Monica,” Toyokawa said. “We want to make sure that attention creates benefits for our residents, our businesses and our local economy.”
Downtown Santa Monica is already seeing signs of renewed growth. Debbie Lee, CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., said visitation, spending, dwell time and transactions have all recorded double-digit year-over-year gains, while the Third Street Promenade is approximately 80% leased. “We are seeing people come back, and they are staying longer and spending more,” Lee said. “That gives us a strong foundation, but we still have work to do.”
Lee said the goal is not simply to attract crowds for marquee weekends. Downtown’s strategy is increasingly focused on turning major events into reasons for visitors and residents to return on ordinary days as well. “We cannot measure success only by how many people show up for one big weekend,” Lee said. “The real opportunity is to give people a reason to come back on a Tuesday, a Wednesday or a month later.”
That requires both programming and fundamentals from clean streets, security, outreach services and an environment where businesses can succeed. “Events get people’s attention, but the everyday experience determines whether they return,” Lee said. “Cleanliness, safety and a welcoming public realm are economic development tools.”
Tourism remains another critical piece of Santa Monica’s sustainable economic growth. Misti Kerns, president and CEO of Santa Monica Travel & Tourism, emphasized the importance of strengthening positive perceptions of the city while continuing to attract international travelers, historically among Santa Monica’s most valuable visitors because they stay longer and spend more than day visitors. “Santa Monica has an incredibly strong global brand, but we have to continue telling the story of what is happening here now,” Kerns said. “We need visitors to see Santa Monica not only as an iconic destination, but as a place that is active, welcoming and worth returning to.”
At the same time, domestic markets have become increasingly important. Los Angeles-area visitors account for a significant portion of downtown spending, while New York, Texas and Chicago remain strong feeder markets. “We are focused on both international and domestic visitors,” Kerns said. “The regional visitor is especially important because they can come back again and again, not just once during a major trip.”
Film production is also contributing to the city’s economic activity, with more than $1 million in film-related fees generated for Santa Monica so far this year.
The next wave of activation will extend beyond sports. Meghan Isgett-Foster, head of special projects at Fever, discussed plans for a Swiss Winter holiday village on the Santa Monica Pier running from mid-November into early January. The concept is designed to combine the atmosphere of a traditional European Christmas market with Santa Monica businesses and the city’s coastal identity. “We want to create something that feels transportive while still being distinctly Santa Monica,” Isgett-Foster said. “The goal is to give people a reason to visit the Pier, stay longer and experience the businesses and attractions around it.”
Hawke Fest is also returning to the Pier, bringing an estimated 1,500 attendees around a “Renaissance” theme celebrating disruptive brands and entrepreneurship. LA Tech Week will offer another opportunity to bring founders, investors and technology companies into the city this fall.
Jeeyan Rostam-Abadi, EVP of Growth, Hawke Media brought the conversation down to the individual business level, outlining a three-stage strategy for turning major-event traffic into longer-term customers: capture visitor intent before an event, convert that interest while visitors are in Santa Monica and continue the relationship after they leave. His message was straightforward: major events can deliver the audience, but businesses still have to deliver the experience. That means making it easy for visitors to discover and choose a business before arriving, reaching them with relevant information while they are nearby, and creating a reason for them to return.
The point reinforced a larger theme of the morning: Santa Monica’s opportunity is not simply to attract crowds for the Super Bowl, LA28 or the next major activation, but to convert those moments of heightened attention into sustained economic activity.
“These events create a bridge between culture, business and place,” Isgett-Foster said. “They bring different audiences into Santa Monica and give local businesses an opportunity to be part of the experience.”
The city has also committed to bringing back Goldenvoice’s Oceanway music festival next year, while additional major sports activations are being developed ahead of LA28.
Moderated by Community Collective Managing Partner and COO Ben Reiss, the conversation repeatedly returned to one idea: large-scale events matter most when their impact extends beyond the event itself. “The opportunity is bigger than any single event,” Reiss said. “The question is how we turn this unprecedented global attention into long-term value for our businesses and communities.”
Reiss said collaboration will be essential to making that happen. “No one organization can do this alone,” Reiss said. “The city, businesses, tourism leaders, cultural institutions and residents all have a role in shaping what visitors experience and what remains after they leave.”
Panelists discussed a three-stage playbook for local businesses: prepare before major events by ensuring listings, menus, reservations and digital information are current; convert visitors during events through timely and geographically relevant offers; and retain those customers afterward through email, loyalty programs and social media. “The businesses that prepare early will be in the best position to benefit,” Kerns said. “Visitors are planning digitally, and they want to know where to go, what is open and what experiences are available before they arrive.”
The underlying message was that marketing alone is not enough. The experience visitors encounter from clean streets to restaurant service to cultural programming determines their return. “Promotion can get someone through the door, but the experience is what earns the second visit,” Lee said.
For Community Collective Association, which convened the Builders Breakfast, that intersection is precisely the point. The breakfast was created to bring people who often work in parallel from government officials, business leaders, tourism executives, cultural organizations, entrepreneurs and community builders into the same room to identify opportunities for collaboration. “We are trying to create the connective tissue between people who are already doing important work,” Reiss said. “When those conversations happen in the same room, new partnerships and new ideas become possible.”
The Santa Monica gathering is part of a growing regional series. Community Collective will continue the conversation during LA Tech Week in October, followed by an Oct. 21 gathering in Long Beach focused on the region’s Olympic opportunity, in partnership with the California State Treasurer’s Office and featuring State Treasurer Fiona Ma and LAEDC President and CEO Stephen Cheung. On Oct. 29, the organization will return to Gensler for the second installment of its “Revitalizing DTLA” series, focused on the future of downtown Los Angeles.
Community Collective's monthly events are focused on connecting conversations around economic development, culture, tourism and major events across Southern California.
As Santa Monica prepares for the Super Bowl, future sports activations and ultimately LA28, the question is shifting from whether major events will bring people to the region to how Santa Monica converts those moments into sustained economic and cultural value. The answer emerging from the second Builders Breakfast was less about any single event than the ecosystem surrounding it: safer and cleaner public spaces, easier permitting, stronger businesses, compelling cultural programming, coordinated tourism marketing and partnerships capable of extending a few days of global attention into years of sustainable economic growth. Rather than a story of recovery, the conversation reflected a city increasingly focused on what comes next, and how Santa Monica can turn its renewed momentum into an economic and cultural renaissance.