Tishbees Wins Approval for Hotel-Apartment Complex in DTLA

Tishbees has received the go-ahead to build an 11-story hotel and apartment complex in Downtown Los Angeles.

The Boyle Heights-based developer led by Elliot Tishbi was approved by the City Council to construct the 100-room hotel with 48 apartments at 1323-1331 South Flower Street, in South Park, Urbanize Los Angeles and the Commercial Observer reported.

A 31,000-square-foot industrial building would be demolished.

Tishbi purchased the third-acre property, less than a block from the Los Angeles Convention Center and Pico Metro Station, in 2003 for a little more than $3 million.

The approved tower, known as The Element, calls for the 100-room hotel, 48 market-rate units and 12,700 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants. Parking would serve 158 cars.

The 118,000-square-foot project, proposed five years ago, initially called for 132 hotel rooms and a restaurant.

The project, designed by Irvine-based nKlosures, will rise in swimming-pool blue, white and orange, with multi-colored accents. The tower will include a pool for apartment residents, a rooftop fountain and water feature for restaurant users, and a grand lobby and restaurant on the street below.

Should the project move forward, Tishbees will be required to make a more than $2 million public benefits payment to the city. The developer shares an address with A Plus Fabrics in Boyle Heights, with Tishbi serving as head of both firms.

The proposed development would join a handful of other commercial and residential developments in close proximity to Pico Station, including the recently completed AC and Moxy Hotel tower a block north at Pico Boulevard and Figueroa Street, according to Urbanize.

Another project by nKlosures, an unfinished hotel with 43 rooms, is across the street from the Element site. That building was slated to become a La Quinta Inn, according to a market report by the DTLA Alliance.

— Dana Bartholomew