Just one day after a Los Angeles City Council Committee endorsed an incentive package valued at nearly $100 million, AEG has filed plans for its proposed expansion of the J.W. Marriott hotel at L.A. Live.
The project, budgeted at approximately $700 million, would consist of a 40-story building featuring 850 guest rooms and 51,000 square feet of meeting space, replacing a garage and event deck at the corner of Chick Hearn Court and Georgia Street. The expansion, which city filings indicate would stand 420 feet in height, would connect to the Los Angeles Convention Center and the existing hotel through multiple pedestrian bridges.
At the completion of the proposed tower, the combined J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel complex would boast 1,851 hotel rooms - making it the second largest hotel in California. AEG had previously sought an expansion of the facility onto a neighboring parking lot fronting Olympic Boulevard, but abandoned the project in 2016.
Concurrently, AEG is partnering with the City of Los Angeles on a proposed $500-million expansion of the Convention Center. Plans call for adding up to 350,000 square feet of new space to the facility by bridging the existing west and south halls with a new structure spanning above Pico Boulevard. At completion, the Convention Center would offer 1.2 million square feet of occupiable space - including 800,000 square feet of contiguous exhibition space.
The project also includes a planned redesign of Gilbert Lindsey Plaza, located at the corner of Pico and Figueroa Street, which would create a more park-like environment with the flexibility for use as outdoor event space.
AEG and the City of Los Angeles hope to complete both projects by 2022, well ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.
According to a financial analysis considered yesterday by the City Council's Economic Development Committee, the proposed hotel tower currently faces a $119-million feasibility gap. In past cases where a developer has sought financial assistance, the City has allowed companies to retain a portion of the transient occupancy tax revenue generated by the new hotel. The incentive for the AEG project would total $97.7 million, reports the Los Angeles Times.
- Los Angeles Convention Center Archive (Urbanize LA)