Get Ready to Order Room Service, Los Angeles
New hotels are moving into downtown, attempting to alleviate the city’s lack of hotel rooms in the area.
The hospitality industry in downtown Los Angeles in undergoing a transitional period. Like the rest of the financial district and downtown area, construction is surging. The new construction boom accounts for all types of residential services, but hotels in downtown and the city at large have a unique situation.
Compared to other tourist-driven markets like San Diego and Las Vegas, Los Angeles is lacking in the amount of hotel rooms that a city of its size should have.
Thus, while San Diego holds special effects like Comic Con International to draw large crowds and Las Vegas is a huge tourist destination year-round in addition to special events, Los Angeles struggles to attract big events due to its relatively small amount of available hotel rooms.
The Los Angeles times reported that there are only 4,875 hotel rooms in the downtown area, a small number compared to other tourist destinations in the country like Orlando, Florida.
Ernest Wooden Jr., chief executive and president of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, told the Los Angeles times that, “The barrier is having land in downtown that can be used for hotels.” He said that the city has been trying to encourage land development for hotels in the downtown area.
The need for more hotel rooms in the downtown area is important, as a dense urban core is important for a city to thrive. As downtown L.A.’s is undergoing a construction boom, the skyline of downtown is being transformed everyday.
Sparks fly during heavy construction on the Wilshire Grand. One of the most notable changes to the downtown region is the Wilshire Grand Center, located at the corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Figueroa Street. This massive building will top out 1,100 feet and have 73 floors.
The building will become the tallest building in the City of Los Angeles, the state of California, and in North America west of the Mississippi River, replacing the current record held by the 1,018-foot U.S. Bank Tower a few blocks away.
The building will feature a sky bar and rooftop pool on top of the future tallest building in the state. It will also feature offices and convention space for special events.
The Wilshire Grand, including its luxury hotel inside, is planned to open in 2017.
Current map of hotels in the downtown Los Angeles area.
The Sheraton Downtown is a hotel that is also feeling changes while new hotels like the Wilshire Grand pop up in the area.
The inside of the newly renovated hotel is now filled with high end luxury materials including marble backsplash and futuristic metal chandeliers that hang from the ceiling. The lobby is now filled with natural light, as the back of the lobby is now a huge glass wall that is open to the mall next door.
The project next door is notable for taking an aging, existing mall where the downtown Macy’s is located and making it an outdoor, exposed and modern shopping center that can compete with the subterranean yet open Fig at 7th shopping center a couple of blocks away.
The Sheraton is a mainstay and one of the larger chains in the downtown area. However, many historic and older hotels remain in the area. One of which is the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel, which lies down the street from the U.S. Bank Tower.
Another hotel that is undergoing renovations is Gianni Place. The building originally was the Bank of Italy when it was built in 1923. LA Curbed writes that the Sydell Group is transforming the hotel into, “an upscale hotel for wealthy hipsters with 250 rooms and a rooftop pool.”
And while new hotels are being constructed in downtown, it still may not be enough for downtown to have a respectable quota of hotel rooms.
Many of the new buildings rising and altering the skyline in Los Angeles are only condominium buildings or office buildings, such as some of the projects closer to the L.A. Live complex south of the Financial District.
Walking around the downtown area, it is very clear that this neighborhood is transforming. One can see that trendy new shops, eateries and condos are making downtown are more luxurious place to live.
A new Soul Cycle, something limited to upscale areas like Brentwood, is coming to the downtown area.
The gentrification is startling, but luxury hotels are coming to downtown as it revamps itself to be the urban core of the Los Angeles region. As the financial district, luxury hotels are expected to cater to those individuals.
As Los Angeles’ hotel room occupancy expands, more people will be able to check in and experience downtown in style.
The Sheraton underwent a major renovation and upgrades, while construction continues at the shopping center next door.
