California Infrastructure Development Conference & Expo
Corey Boock, Elizabeth Cousins, Brandon Davis, Liz Klebaner and Yukiko Kojima participated in the California Infrastructure Development Conference & Expo that took place December 10 – 11, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.
On December 10th, Brandon joined the fireside chat “Regional Visionaries: Shaping the Future of California’s Infrastructure.” California’s infrastructure future is being shaped at the regional level, where long-range planning, major capital investments and visionary leadership come together. This fireside conversation brought together the leaders of two of the state’s most influential metropolitan planning organizations–Kome Ajise from SCAG and Mario Orso from SANDAG—to explore how they are advancing transformative transportation, housing, climate and economic priorities across their regions. Panelists discussed their strategic visions for the next decade, new delivery and financing approaches, major corridor and resilience initiatives and the partnerships required to align local, regional and statewide goals. Attendees gained insight into how regional leadership is turning big-picture plans into on-the-ground impact—and what collaboration across sectors will be essential to California’s next generation of infrastructure.
Brandon also participated in the panel “California’s Infrastructure Pipeline: What’s Coming in 2026 and Beyond.” This forward-looking discussion featured two of California’s most influential public owners, the Port of Los Angeles and the California High-Speed Rail Authority, as they outline major upcoming development, contracting and partnership opportunities that will shape the state’s infrastructure landscape in the years ahead. Designed specifically for developers, contractors and AEC professionals, this session provided rare visibility into California’s upcoming project pipeline across ports, rail and major public infrastructure. Attendees gained insight into how early planning, advanced infrastructure design and multi-agency collaboration will create new opportunities across the state.
Corey participated in the session “Progressive Delivery and P3s: When Pre-Development Agreements Make Sense.” This session examined the sweet spots and limits of progressive delivery and public-private partnerships. Panelists explored when Predevelopment Agreements (PDAs) and phased, collaborative structures create value and when a traditional fixed-price or a conventional approach may be more appropriate. They discussed defining scope and design, risk mitigation or a need for hard cost certainty early. Panelists compared tools across the spectrum of delivery options and discuss how to structure milestones to optimize performance. Attendees gained practical guidance on procurement strategy and evaluation criteria, how to manage market capacity and competition and identify when progressive models make sense and red flags that indicate when they may not deliver value for money.
Yukiko participated in the panel “L.A. Convention Center Expansion: Redefining Downtown Through Public-Private Collaboration.” The City of Los Angeles is advancing one of its most ambitious civic projects — the expansion and modernization of the Los Angeles Convention Center, a transformative effort to enhance the city’s global competitiveness and economic vitality. This session brought together the key partners behind the project. Panelists discussed how this landmark design-build project is delivering one of California’s largest convention center redevelopments, exploring the project’s innovative structure and phased delivery to accommodate the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the coordination required to bring a complex, high-visibility civic project to life with an operating convention center in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.
Liz discussed “Balancing Progress and Process: CEQA’s Evolving Role in California’s Infrastructure Future.” California’s infrastructure ambitions increasingly intersect with the realities of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a landmark law that continues to shape how projects are planned, reviewed and delivered. This session brought together leading CEQA and developers of public infrastructure projects to examine the state’s most pressing infrastructure challenges through the lens of environmental review and regulatory reform. Panelists unpacked the latest CEQA amendments and carve-outs, explored their implications for transportation, housing and water projects and discussed how agencies and developers can navigate compliance while accelerating delivery. Attendees gained insights on recent CEQA reforms impacting infrastructure projects.
On December 11th, Elizabeth participated in the panel “Advancing Water Infrastructure Through Alternative Delivery: Case Studies from Southern California.” California water agencies have turned to innovative delivery methods to meet the challenges of climate resilience, cost optimization, risk mitigation and schedule certainty. This session explored how alternative delivery approaches—such as progressive design-build (PDB), construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC) and public-private partnerships (P3) — are helping to transform some of California’s signature water projects. Key case studies included East County Advanced Water Purification Joint Powers Authority’s $1 billion regional advanced water treatment and recycled water program and Metropolitan Water District’s System Resilience Projects.
The California Infrastructure Development Conference is a two-day forum for public owners and industry partners focused on how projects actually move, from concept to closeout, across transportation, social infrastructure, water, energy and more.
