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AEG looks to sell stake in LA Live hotels
Could offer up to 50% in Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, seeks proceeds to fund expansion
AEG is looking to sell a stake in the two hotels at its L.A. Live complex in Downtown Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles-based entertainment firm is willing to sell up to a 50 percent stake in the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels at the complex at 800 West Olympic Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Times.
JLL has been hired to market the sale of the hotel stakes. AEG is specifically looking for hotel operators to take a stake in the project.
AEG is hoping a sale will help fund an expansion of the complex, which is slated to include a 150,000-square-foot tower and conference center with 861 more hotel rooms. The expansion plans, first proposed in 2018, are slated to cost around $800 million and were delayed by the pandemic.
The firm’s vice chairman Ted Fikre said any remaining proceeds from the sale will be invested into some of AEG’s business units, including ticketing and live entertainment.
The L.A. Live complex is not the only expansion AEG is currently working on in DTLA. The firm is also working with the city of L.A. to add 193,000 square feet of exhibit to the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Both expansions come as the hotel industry continues to recover. Investors did return to hotel sales in 2021, betting on the eventual return of travelers after the pandemic stalled travel for more than a year. Hotel sales exceeded $38 billion last year — up almost 400 percent year-over-year, according to JLL.
Leisure hotels have made up the majority of these sales, as investors are still waiting to see when, and whether, business and conference travel returns to 2019 levels.
[LAT] — Isabella Farr