Westfield Group Chairman Peter Lowy will be among the speakers at the San Fernando Valley Economic Summit taking place May 19 at the Sheraton Universal. For the first time, the summit will combine an economic forecast and the real estate outlook for the San Fernando Valley. The event is sponsored by the Economic Research Center and Center for Real Estate at California State University Northridge and the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will give the welcome to attendees and Richard Weiss, chief investment officer with City National Bank, will give a national economic forecast. Economic Research Center Director Daniel Blake said he thinks Lowy will be a big draw for the business and development community. Lowy is expected to speak on trends in real estate. “He’s a huge influence in the Valley,” Blake said. “We have a lot of retail trade and a lot of development here is related to retail.” Westfield owns shopping centers in Sherman Oaks, Woodland Hills and Canoga Park. The event will also feature panel discussions on a variety of real estate issues. The panel topics are “Real Estate: Equity and Finance; Tax and Equity Optimization Structures;” “Neighborhood Councils: the New Land Use Frontier;” “Outlook for Entertainment, Manufacturing and Mixed-Use Development;” “The Apartment Market in 2006: Is it the Year to Buy, Build or Bail Out;” “Office & Industrial Properties: Losing Ground or Holding On;” “The Valley’s Changing Face of Retail Development;” and “Using Economic Forecast Data to Make Business Decisions.” The core of the program will be the Valley Economic Forecast given by Blake and the Real Estate Outlook from Donald Bleich, director of the Center for Real Estate. This year’s economic forecast will emphasize real estate data, including vacancy and lease rates and how the Valley compares with other nearby areas. The forecast will also include information on how well businesses in specific industries will do in the coming year, the population and in-migration to the Valley, residential and non-residential construction, and what housing prices will be in 2007 and 2008.