Vella Group seeks public incentives to build ‘village’ in DTLA

Vella Group has asked for a public handout to build a 420-unit urban retail village in Downtown Los Angeles.

The West Hollywood-based developer seeks a financial incentive from the city to build a residential, hotel, office and retail complex at 670 Mesquit Street in the Arts District, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The request was made through a motion by Councilman Kevin de Leon, who shuttled it to a trade, travel and tourism committee for consideration.

According to the motion, Vella Group has “indicated that the proposed hotel development requires financial assistance in order to be completed and has requested development incentives consistent with those extended to other large hotel projects.”

Los Angeles has provided financial incentives for past hotel projects in the form of a rebate on transient occupancy tax revenue that would normally help pay for city services.

Lightstone Group, which received such incentives for its Fig + Pico development near the Convention Center, is expected to get an additional $100 million in revenue through the first 25 years of hotel operations.

Such incentives, however, have raised eyebrows. In 2018, then City Controller Ron Galperin argued the city lacked any way to determine the need, or success, of public incentives for hotel projects.

Vella Group would pony up $150,000 to cover the cost of an economic feasibility study regarding its proposed hotel, which could justify the requested incentives. The amount of financial help was not disclosed.

The proposed project, in the works since 2016, would include four buildings between 6th and 7th Streets containing 420 homes, more than 800,000 square feet of offices, unspecified ground-floor shops and restaurants and a 236-room hotel.

The cascading complex, designed by Copenhagen-based Bjarke Ingels and Carthay-based Gruen Associates, would be sheathed in floor-to-ceiling windows encased in a concrete Hollywood Squares-like frame.

It would soar up to 378 feet along the Los Angeles River, near the new 6th Street Ribbon of Light Bridge.

It’s billed as a key connector to a proposed Metro station for the B and D subway lines, with an outdoor deck over the tracks that could hold farmers markets and movie nights.

— Dana Bartholomew