Move over, Sunset Strip.
The amount of hotel rooms available or under construction near the Los Angeles Convention Center in Downtown Los Angeles doubled to more than 5,000 within the last five years, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported.
That means the city is past the halfway mark of reaching the 8,000-key goal by 2020, according to a study released Oct. 19 by council member Jose Huizar. The goal set in 2013 was part of a larger push to increase tourism to the area surrounding the Convention Center.
News of the achievement coincided with a Central City Association general membership meeting at the JW Marriott, where tourism dominated the conversation.
Downtown, characterized by office buildings and, more recently, condo skyscrapers, has been slow to deliver on the hotel front. That seems to be changing, however, as evidenced by plans to build 1,000-key-plus hotels near the convention center emerge. Oceanwide Plaza, by Beijing developer Oceanwide Holdings Company, is also underway. The project will include the 53-story, 184-key Park Hyatt Los Angeles and Residences designed by Studio Munge. [LABJ] – Natalie Hoberman