Lightstone, a privately-held real estate firm based out of New York, has officially announced plans for a large mixed-use complex near the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The project, to be known as Fig+Pico, would replace a parking lot and a small commercial building at the northeast corner of Figueroa Street and Pico Boulevard.  Plans call for the construction two hotel towers containing approximately 1,100 guest rooms, meeting spaces, amenities and 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

The proposed buildings, which would rise 40 stories and 28 stories, are being designed by a team consisting of global architecture firm Gensler and Yabu Pushelberg Studios.  They envision a "hip, modern, amenity-rich destination for today's modern travelers."

Although Lightstone already operates in California, Fig + Pico would be their first Los Angeles development.  The company plans to open an office in Downtown later this year to monitor the proposed hotel development, as well as other potential projects throughout Southern California.

Fig+Pico emerges in the wake of a lost business analysis by the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, which found that inadequate hotel and convention center space cost the city an estiamted $4.9 billion in economic impact between 2010 and 2014.  The city responded by setting an ambitious goal of increasing the number of hotel rooms near the convention center from 3,172 to 8,000.