LA Live to Break Ground Sept. 15
The long-awaited LA Live sports and entertainment district next to Staples Center will break ground next month, with project officials announcing new tenants and details on the $1 billion plan. Rendering courtesy of AEG.
Officials Also Clear Way for Hundreds of Housing Units to Rise Near Staples
by Kathryn Maese
The $1 billion sports and entertainment district known as LA Live will break ground Sept. 15, development and city officials told Los Angeles Downtown News last week. At the high-profile event, some key retail tenants and operators will be revealed.
Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which owns Staples Center and is spearheading the adjacent LA Live, would not comment on the details of next month's groundbreaking. However, project officials have long said the first phase of the development would include the 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre, as well as the Nokia Plaza and some underground parking. Observers also hope it will mark the beginning of construction for the 1,200-room Convention Center hotel.
"They are going to start construction on the entire LA Live development, which means starting with the underground parking and service entries," said Lillian Burkenheim, a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) project manager. "Over the next few months we will see a whole variety of actions taking place to move LA Live forward."
One of those steps occurred last Thursday when the CRA and the city Planning Department cleared the way for developers within the entertainment district master plan to begin construction of hundreds of housing units. Among the projects is a group of units being developed by AEG between Figueroa, Flower, 12th and Pico. The Hanover Company has been waiting on the city approvals to close escrow on a purchase, and will now move ahead with a 156-unit apartment tower at 1717 W. Olympic Blvd.
City requirements dictate that AEG include a 20% affordable housing component in the project. To meet that, AEG has given $8 million to the YWCA to develop a new campus for their Job Corps facilities and 200 two-bedroom apartments for very low-income program participants. The seven-story, $43 million structure will rise on the block bounded by 12th, Pico, Figueroa and Flower. An additional $2 million CRA grant helped acquire the land.
Separately, Williams and Dame, part of the South Group that is developing 1,700 units in the area, has purchased land from AEG to build housing, as did the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, which is constructing a nearby student residential complex.
"This [decision] clears the way for them to proceed," said Michael Roth, an AEG spokesman. "Nothing is minor in this project. It's another important step in the process."
The CRA board is expected to vote on the Convention Center hotel plan Sept. 1, and if approved, the measure will head to City Council. The $350 million Hilton hotel would be topped by 100 luxury condos on floors 45 to 55. The structure being developed by New York-based Wolff Urban Development could take three years to complete.
Funding for the hotel had been a sticking point until last year, when developer Lew Wolff stepped in to build the facility. Now, the final details of a city incentives package are being hammered out including a $20 million loan, infrastructure improvements, fee waivers and a proposal to exempt the hotel owners from a 14% bed tax that other hotels pay. The exemption could be worth up to $100 million over 20 years.
"I've been preoccupied with the funding process for the hotel," said Michael Collins, executive vice president of LA Inc, the city's convention and visitors bureau. "If it's not completely done by Sept. 15, then it will be close to it. There has been enormous pressure placed on getting this hotel up and running."
Other notable elements include the Nokia Theatre, a $90 million venue that will host more than 100 events a year such as concerts, award shows and short-run productions. A 15-screen movie theater complex to be run by the Regal Entertainment Group will rise on Olympic Boulevard next to the 110 Freeway; the largest theater will seat 700 people. In all, 4,000 underground parking spaces will be built.
While construction is underway on LA Live, a new parking garage on the southwest corner of Georgia and 11th streets will be built to accommodate Staples Center visitors, Burkenheim said.
AEG has been exploring plans to create the 4 million-square-foot development since even before the arena opened in 1999. City and tourism officials say the addition of a Convention Center hotel will help attract larger conventions and bolster the flagging industry. While the linchpin in the project will be the hotel, Collins said the surrounding entertainment and retail venues are linked to that structure's success.
"In order to prosper, the hotel has to draw all kinds of business," he said. "The Convention Center will supply a large portion of that volume, but by no means all of it.... LA Live provides the context in which a major new hotel could prosper. The connection is inextricable."
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