A wizard has cast its spell on Hilton Universal, and now a new tower will appear.
The owners of the Hilton hotel complex next to Universal Studios theme park said they will expand the project with a new 15-story tower with 395 rooms. It will rise next to the existing 24-story, 495-room Hilton Universal.
The decision to expand came after the The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened in April 2016.
According to Mark Davis, the CEO of Sun Hill Properties, the proposal is a response to a tourism boom in Los Angeles County, which has seen record-breaking growth over the last several years. Davis said the expansion will allow the Hilton to meet the existing need for rooms, and to prepare for future demand generated by new attractions at Universal Studios and the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Sun Hill Properties first announced plans for a new tower in December 2017, but then revised the plans after discussions with local community members. The addition was designed by LARGE Architecture, which recently opened Argyle House in Hollywood and The Emerson in Downtown Los Angeles.
The Hilton brand had been busy throughout Los Angeles. In September, Canada-based hotelier Westmont Hospitality Group and New York-based real estate firm Square Mile Capital Management purchased a 253-room DoubleTree Suites hotel in Santa Monica for $154 million. Earlier this year, Woodbine Development Corp. paid $152 million for a DoubleTree hotel in Culver City. Next year, a new Hilton is slated to open in Inglewood.