Architectural plans submitted earlier this month to the City of Los Angeles offer a first glimpse of a proposed hotel development in Downtown's South Park neighborhood.

The project, which is being developed by Downtown-based sports and entertainment company AEG, would replace a surface parking lot at the northwest corner of 11th Street and Grand Avenue.  Plans call for the construction of a 13-story building featuring 160 guest rooms, a ground-floor restaurant, basement parking, a conference facility, and a rooftop pool and bar.

KAP, a London- and Los Angeles-based architecture firm, is designing the proposed hotel, which would rise to a maximum height of 178 feet.  Renderings depict a contemporary design, with glass wrapping the structure on its first two floors, and an exoskeleton and skin of brick on the levels above.

The proposed hotel is emblazoned with the name Desmond, which is taken from an adjacent warehouse-turned-office building that is occupied by AEG's live entertainment division.

AEG has developed a Downtown real estate empire that includes Staples Center and L.A. Live.  The company is also planning an 850-room expansion of its J.W. Marriott hotel complex L.A. Live, which would be built in conjunction with an expansion of the neighboring Los Angeles Convention Center.

Other hotel developments in the South Park neighborhood include a 16-story, 243-room Hyatt planned at the intersection of 12th and Olive Streets and a Moxy Hotel and an AC Hotel now under construction as part of the first phase of the Fig + Pico development.  An as-yet unbranded 160-room hotel is also proposed as part of a 43-story mixed-use tower at 11th and Hill Streets.