Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is already slated to overhaul the Los Angeles convention center, is now looking to add another major Downtown project to its agenda.
The Los Angeles-based entertainment development specialist filed plans for an 850-room expansion of the J.W. Marriott at L.A. Live. The new proposal came just one day after a Los Angeles City Council committee recommended approval of an incentive program for the developer worth almost $100 million.
The 850 rooms would take the form of a new 40-story hotel tower with 51,000 square feet of meeting space. It would be budgeted at $700 million, according to UrbanizeLA.
The expansion would replace a garage and event deck at the corner of Chick Hearn Court and Georgia Street, and connect to the Los Angeles Convention Center and an existing hotel through multiple pedestrian bridges.
Once complete, the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel complex will be the second largest in the state.
AEG – owner of the Staples Center and L.A. Live – is also working on a proposed $500-million transformation of the convention center, which would add 350,000 square feet by bridging to a new structure above Pico Boulevard. The project also includes redesigning the Gilbert Lindsey Plaza at the corner with Figueroa Street.
The city anticipates AEG will complete both projects – totaling $1.2 billion – by 2022, with time to spare before the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. The project is also aimed at attracting more conventions to L.A., which has long lagged in attracting large events.
The project faces a $119-million “feasibility gap” stemming from the hotel tower. The incentive program for the developers would be worth close to $100 million, according to analysis from the city. The Budget and Finance Committee will consider the recommendation before presenting it to the full city council next week. [Urbanize] – Gregory Cornfield