The developer a proposed select-service hotel near the Los Angeles Convention Center is angling for financial assistance from the city to complete the project, according to a motion introduced earlier today by 14th Councilmember Jose Huizar.

AECOM Capital and Mack Urban, the co-developers of the proposed 243-room hotel, hope to construct the project at the northwest corner of 12th and Olive Streets in South Park.  Huizar's motion states that the team has requested that the City "evaluate and consider providing economic incentives," similar to those granted to similar projects near the Convention Center, including the three-hotel Fig + Pico development and the Hotel Indigo at Metropolis.  Past incentive packages have allowed hotel owners to retain a percentage of the Transient Occupancy Tax revenue generated by their properties.

The proposed hotel, described as a 12-story building in past filings with the Planning and Building Departments, would represent the third Downtown development for the joint venture between AECOM and Mack Urban.  The companies have already completed the WREN apartments, located at 1230 S. Olive Street, and are in the midst of construction for the 37-story Aven tower at 1120 S. Grand Avenue.

The companies also own two additional development sites at 11th and Olive Streets, which are slated for a pair of high-rise towers totaling more than 1,200 dwelling units.

Huizar's motion describes the hotel as part of a comprehensive effort by the City to bolster the operations of the Los Angeles Convention Center, which has been unable to draw large events in the past because of a lack of nearby hotel rooms in comparison to competing facilities.  The City has previously set a goal of building 8,000 hotel rooms within walking distance of the facility by 2020.

Besides the three Fig + Pico hotels - with a cumulative 1,162 guest rooms - other projects planned or underway within walking distance of the Convention Center include a new Park Hyatt at Oceanwide Plaza, a W Hotel at 1020 S. Figueroa Street, and a new Cambria Hotel at James M. Wood Boulevard and Georgia Street.