Posted Jul 16, 2015, 7:11 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
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U.S. Bank Tower owner plans to build a rooftop observatory for tourists
Quote:
By Roger Vincent
The owner of U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles — the tallest skyscraper in the West — is building an outdoor observation deck, bar and restaurant on the top floors, part of a $50-million makeover of the 72-story building.
Built in the late 1980s as an exclusive corporate cathedral, the round, crown-topped tower faces fresh competition for tenants from recently renovated historic buildings popular with young Internet companies and other creative businesses. Beyond keeping the building competitive, OUE aims to profit by charging tourists admission.
Dubbed Skyspace L.A., the rooftop complex will be one of only a handful of such high-altitude visitor venues in the country. It will be operated by the firm that runs the observatory at the new One World Trade Center building in New York.
Admission will cost $25. A trip to the top of Willis Tower in Chicago costs $19.50 — or $45 for a "fast pass" to cut waiting time. At One World Trade Center in New York, a standard admission is $32, and "VIP expedited" entry costs $54.
Built in the late 1980s as an exclusive corporate cathedral, the round, crown-topped tower faces fresh competition for tenants from recently renovated historic buildings popular with young Internet companies and other creative businesses. Beyond keeping the building competitive, OUE aims to profit by charging tourists admission.
Dubbed Skyspace L.A., the rooftop complex will be one of only a handful of such high-altitude visitor venues in the country. It will be operated by the firm that runs the observatory at the new One World Trade Center building in New York.
Admission will cost $25. A trip to the top of Willis Tower in Chicago costs $19.50 — or $45 for a "fast pass" to cut waiting time. At One World Trade Center in New York, a standard admission is $32, and "VIP expedited" entry costs $54.
So why didn't the original owners include public spaces at the top when it was built?
The developers were focused on serving elite corporate clients, who may or may not have favored sharing the top of the building with tourists.
"It never occurred to us that it was viable, because we were focused on our rent-paying tenants," said Nelson Rising, who was in charge of developing the property for original owners Maguire Thomas Partners.
The sky-high restaurant on the 71st floor will be called 71Above and be operated by Los Angeles chef Vartan Abgaryan, currently executive chef at Cliff's Edge restaurant in Silver Lake. It is set to open in the first quarter of next year. The 72nd floor will continue to be leased to office tenants.
The observation decks, along with space that can be rented for special events including weddings, will incorporate floors 69 and 70. .
The company plans to open the observation deck by the middle of next year and keep it open daily from 9 a.m. to midnight.
Visitors will enter Skyspace L.A. through a new entrance to the building off of a flight of stairs on the west side that were designed to evoke the monumental Spanish Steps in Rome. A coffee bar will be eliminated to create the entrance and make room for ticketing operations and a souvenir shop. The building's elevators have been upgraded to help move passengers more efficiently.
OUE will have high-altitude company downtown in the 73-story-tall Wilshire Grand hotel and office building set for completion in 2017. Its 70th floor will have an outdoor bar and observation deck.
OUE will also make substantial improvements to the lower public floors of U.S. Bank Tower. The McCormick & Schmick's restaurant that had been a fixture since the building opened in 1989 has been closed to make way for Monkee, a Cantonese restaurant set to open by the end of this year.
Another noteworthy change will take place on the first floor, where OUE will fill a wall of the lobby with a video screen 126 feet wide by 17 feet high. OUE will show images intended to entice passersby to come in.
"The content will capture the essence of L.A.; the people, the scenery, the celebrity," OUE's Rumantir said. "We are selling L.A."
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The makeover of downtown Los Angeles' U.S. Bank Tower is to include a sky-high observation deck and restaurant offering 360-degree views of the city, the mountains and the ocean.
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