A City Council committee approved the sale of a city-owned parcel to the Lightstone Group on Wednesday, putting the New York-based developer one step closer to constructing a two-tower, 1,130-unit hotel project at the site.
Los Angeles Downtown News reported the city would get $9.6 million from the sale, which was approved in 3-0 vote by the council’s Economic Development Committee.
The proposal will now go to the full Council for a final vote.
Lightstone’s plan, known as Fig + Pico, consists of three separate hotels across two buildings. In the first tower, which will top out at 42 stories, the developer proposes a Moxy Hotel and an AC Hotel. In a separate 25-story tower, the developer hopes to open a Hilton.
The office of 14th District City Council member José Huizar said that the project will bring the city more than $90 million revenue over the course of 25 years, although Lightstone will get a cut on its municipal hotel taxes as a deal sweetener, a practice now common for hotel development that has been criticized as a giveaway to multimillionaire real estate developers. [LADT] — Will Parker