la live is the metreon on steroids. The good thing is it probably has the greatest chance of catalyzing a downtown retail boom along the lines of San Diego's Horton Plaza.

But you can never build a Times Square. Putting up a couple jumbotrons inside of Fashion Island does not make a Times Square. The closest thing LA has to TS is the intersection of Hollywood and Highland (and not the H&H complex itself). And the fact that LA Live is consciously trying to recreate faux-TS is precisely the reason TS will not occur in LA. Urbanism is too diffuse here. Hollywood wants to be TS, WeHo is trying, and now LA Live is trying, and all the while Grand Ave is trying to be Champs. So many places are trying to be something that no one place will ever fully succeed at it. How lame.

I dont think L.As trying to be exactly like timesquare but their trying to get that vibe where all the action is in downtown because really, L.As downtown could be boring when all the atractions are out in the suburbs. So with L.A live it would bring people to downtown.

Where is the Grammy Museum going to go?

Staples Singers

Sports giant AEG ramping up music, event promotion
By ANNE RILEY-KATZ

Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Every day, AEG President and Chief Executive Tim Leiweke looks out the window of his office near the Staples Center and sees workmen and huge cranes bringing L.A. Live, the massive $2.5 billion sports, entertainment and residential complex, closer to completion,

The project – which is running over its construction budget – is expected to be the crown jewel of AEG’s sprawling sports center and is seen as a key component in the revitalization of downtown.

For AEG, it’s a clear sign that the heart and soul of Chairman Philip Anschutz’s growing sports and entertainment empire is in Los Angeles. Already the second-largest U.S. sports and live entertainment company, AEG is making a major push to expand its live theater, music and awards show staging presence in conjunction with L.A. Live’s arrival.

“This is clearly our operations hub, and it grows even more important as we get closer to the opening of L.A. Live,” said Leiweke, who is the right-hand man of the reclusive Colorado billionaire and serves as the public face of AEG. He’s been here since 1996, when he arrived to oversee construction of the Staples Center.

Today, Leiweke oversees more than 50 AEG subsidiaries, including two newly formed divisions – AEG Facilities and AEG Entertainment – with more than 4,000 employees and revenues in excess of $1 billion. Among the holdings that AEG has acquired in the past decade are pro hockey’s L.A. Kings, pro soccer’s L.A. Galaxy and a minority stake in the NBA’s Lakers. AEG also owns two independent film studios, Walden Media and Bristol Bay Productions. AEG’s Galaxy made worldwide headlines recently with its $250 million acquisition of soccer star David Beckham.

All of this growth in the sports and entertainment arm of AEG is coming as Anschutz is stepping back from Qwest Communications International, the Denver-based telecom company he founded. Anschutz resigned as a Qwest director last year, and said in a statement that he planned to focus on his other holdings that include, in addition to the sports and entertainment holdings, oil companies, railroads, newspapers and a theater chain.

In the fall, Anschutz sliced his direct holdings in the company to about 66.4 million shares, after selling and donating nearly 80 million shares. He also sold shares in June, July and October of last year. Most recently, on the day after the Beckham deal was announced, Anschutz announced that he was selling 43 million Qwest shares for $297 million.

Leiweke denied that there was a relationship between the expansion of AEG’s sports and entertainment holdings and Anschutz’s Qwest sell off.

“AEG happens to have a phenomenal chairman, but there’s nothing he has to do in his other worlds to provide capital necessary to finance our growth; nothing we are doing requires him to liquidate any assets,” Leiweke said. Nevertheless, sports and entertainment properties now represent a major portion of Anschutz’s fortune, estimated by Forbes magazine to be $7.8 billion.

While much of AEG’s focus is here, the firm has significant holdings outside of Los Angeles, including a New Jersey soccer stadium and arenas in Missouri, Berlin and London. Anschutz’ Regal Entertainment Group, based in Tennessee, is the largest motion picture exhibitor in the world, operating nearly 20 percent of all indoor screens in the U.S. (and will include the multiplex being built for L.A. Live).

Ballpark figures
AEG’s L.A. Live plans call for the 4 million-square-foot development to include 226 condominium units, an 878-room hotel operated by JW Marriott and a 123-room luxury hotel connected with Ritz-Carlton.

The project appears to be sailing along now, having conquered some hurdles along the way.

Faced with a softening real estate market, residential builder KB Home pulled out of the condo development in December, becoming the second major firm to withdraw from the project. KB came aboard last year, after original partner Lew Wolff withdrew. Despite speculation that AEG was looking for another partner, Leiweke said AEG will go it alone now.

In 2005, the city cut a deal to avoid a potentially project-stalling lawsuit over tax waivers. That allowed the nearby Westin Bonaventure Hotel, which would presumably compete with the L.A. Live hotel, to convert 400 of its existing rooms into condos.
Leiweke wouldn’t say by how much construction costs at L.A. Live were exceeding the original $750 million-plus estimate, some of which is to be offset by public financing in the form of a loan, tax incentives and fee waivers worth $300 million. But it was enough to provoke him into using a sports cliché.

“You’re never in the ballpark when it comes to construction budgets,” he said.

Battle of the bands
The primary obstacle to AEG Live’s domination of the concert and theater realm is Beverly Hills-based Live Nation Inc., which owns 170 venues and produces more than 33,000 events a year. Like AEG, the company is making moves: Last year, Live Nation acquired the famed House of Blues chain and also produced all or part of nine of the top ten grossing concert tours in the country; AEG had the remaining one (Bon Jovi).

The former Clear Channel subsidiary – spun off into a separate public company in 2005 – also booked a number of events at both Staples Center and the Forum (for which AEG is the booking agent), including concerts by Shakira, Mariah Carey and U2 as well as Cirque Du Soleil’s Delirium show.

“Live Nation is still significantly larger than AEG Live, and they made a very wise decision in acquiring the House of Blues,” said analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. “At the core, live entertainment boils down to artist relationships, and Live Nation has made a lot of headway in the last year by teaming up with people who have strong established relationships with huge acts like the Rolling Stones.”

Leiweke conceded that Live Nation dominates that market, but stressed that amassing top-tier venues in select markets, rather than a large quantity scattered across the nation, is the company’s goal.

“They are the big beasts in the amphitheater business, so we stay out of their way,” Leiweke said. “We are an arena-theater-club business.”
The companies’ strategies also differ – while Live Nation snapped up most of its considerable assets through acquisition, AEG Live has chosen to build its base from the ground up, incorporating technology to allow high definition broadcast and Internet content feeds from various arenas. The goal is to make AEG a content-and-distribution player in short order, according to Leiweke, and create its own network.

“An acquisition strategy makes it easier for Live Nation to get into the market quicker, but the advantage of building is it can tailor to your needs, even on the level of infrastructure,” said David Kestenbaum, an analyst who covers Live Nation for Morgan Joseph.


Kudos clout
AEG may have an easier time dominating the awards realm.

Last year, AEG acquired Champions on Ice, Bounce Event Marketing and Ken Ehrlich Productions, and brought the kudos impresario himself into the company.

Ehrlich is the man behind the Grammys, the Emmys, the Blockbuster Awards, the Alma Awards, the Latin Grammys and the MTV Movie Awards.
Combined with L.A. Live’s construction, the acquisition should make AEG a formidable player in the awards arena. The only major awards show locked into a long-term venue contract is the Academy Awards ceremony at the Kodak Theater, so there is potential to host everything from the Emmys to ESPN’s ESPYs. The Nokia Theater already has 150 events booked for its first year, Leiweke said.

AEG has forged other significant entertainment partnerships as well. SBE Entertainment – nightlife kingpin Sam Nazarian’s company – is going to install a club as an anchor tenant at the development. Nazarian is known for his ability to create exclusive hot spots, a touch that Leiweke said – along with the 226 ultra-luxury condos atop the Ritz-Carlton hotel – would make L.A. Live a draw for the high-end set.

“We (at AEG) don’t go out to nightclubs,” said Leiweke smiling, “but for those that do, Sammy is the best in the business.”

That's freakin' impressive. Hopefully construction will complete in time so that nobody will have to cancel.

I'd like to see this 'Live Nation' build a competing venue somewhere on the other side of Figueroa. Maybe a House Of Blues. Imagine having huge competing entertainment complexes on either side of Figueroa! That would be sweet! :upload_71700:

Yeah, I would also like it if Live Nation took over all the Broadway theaters and made that area into a BETTER version of 42nd Street!

I'm sure the self esteem & egos of New Yawkers need to be inflated all the time by ppl elsewhere, here in LA, for example, who often use the hoods or devlpt of NYC as the ideal template or place to emulate. I know I sometimes do that too, but that's also the reason I don't like outsiders seeing the posts here. A New yorker running into a thread like this would be comparable to a big headed brother or sister overhearing mom or dad talking about him or her by saying "you should be more like your sibling....so successful, popular, good looking...he/she always was my favorite!"

Getting back to whether LA Live will be like Times Sq or not. It probably won't be, but it doesn't have to be. I just want to see it do well enough in its own right, meaning I want to see it be popular enough to hold its own against similar projs elsewhere, inc Citywalk, the Grove, the new Disney devlpt in anaheim, or the various big burban malls or gathering spots, inc OT pasadena or SaMo's 3rd St Promenade.

My comment re 42nd street was more in reference to a theater district... since LA's Broadway contains the largest concentration of pre WWII theater palaces... I think it really would be, if properly planned and executed, better than NY's 42nd street... better in terms of more historic theaters. A little competition is a good thing!

LA is the ultimate in diversity so is Las Vegas but in a playful way. Los Angels is more serious with it's diversity. Having a bit of Time Square in LA is ok by me. I'm sure if palm trees could survive the cold they would be lining the streets of New York. LA is a city built on a playground of natural beauty. We can have a little bit of New York in LA but they can't have a little bit of LA in NY.

Why do we care to have a Times Square in LA? The real thing ain't all that. It's one of the less interesting attractions of NYC.

I think the idea isn't to have a carbon copy of Times Square but more to have a similar type of focal point for the city of LA, particularly one that's actually located within the city's boundaries. Right now the only thing within LA city that might compare is Hollywood and Highland, but LA Live and its environs have the potential to be so much more than that.

Instead of viewing ourselves in the light of other city's successes, we just focus on reviving and creating our own? 7th/Broadway used to be the center of this city - filled with activity and clubs and theaters and street cars. Bring that back - bring the theaters back, couple it with residential/hotel occupancy in the vacant historic buildings and the arts galleries on Main and we'll provide a unique experience enjoyable to Angelinos and unforgettable to tourists.

Stop selling our great city short. We don't need to look to other cities with their flashy billboards, and we don't have to build expensive new skyscrapers with way too much parking for success. We just have to return to our core - our Historic Core.

And I second the Metreon on steroids comment.

If anything the best place to for downtowns main entertianment area would be broadway everything is already there.

website link
 

Can anyone post the the link for L.A. Live Ritz Carlton hotel website. Saw it
tonight on a billboard atop Nokia's exterior wall across from Staples.....Thanx

:banana: :banana: :banana:

was it this?

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/corporate...os_angeles.asp

a great two days. First we hear rumblings that Concerto is back as two towers, now Grand Ave gets the green light, and Zev is fighting for Downtown LA? has hell frozen over? lol. next thing you know, is we will get a devloper to announce a 100 story mixed use for the site on 8th and fig :)

On a side note, how many high end hotels are being built in LA right now?

Ritz - Downtown LA
Marriott - Downtown LA
Mandarin - Downtown LA
Gansevoort - Downtown LA
W - Hollywood
W - Hollywood (Sunset Strip?)
Waldorf Astoria - Beverly Hills
Montage - Beverly Hills

thats pretty damn impressive
any others? room counts?

There's also this one:

http://www.ritzcarltonrealestate.com...losangeles.jsp

thanks for the link......there's another one like ???????access.com

:banana: :banana: :banana:

and when is gansevoort going up? or is it even?

^ Technically Gansevoort is already "up", but no one knows the timetable for the renovation, or if it's even still a go.