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Korean Air Hotel Will Be The Tallest Building in LA

February 19, 2013 at 1:34 PM | by | Comments (2)

Last time we checked in on the now named "Wilshire Grand Project" back in May, Korean Air had already ditched its two-tower plan (a 60-story office tower and a 40-story hotel to be completed in 2014) in favor of a 73-story skyscraper.

We dished that the billion-dollar building would be just a tick shorter than the existing U.S. Bank Tower, but according to new reports, it will include a spire at the top that puts the total height at 1,100 feet, making it the tallest in the city, about 80 feet above the U.S. Bank Tower.

While a management brand still has yet to be announced, we now know that the L.A.-based architecture firm AC Martin Partners will design the project. Its resume includes Los Angeles City Hall and Bank of America Plaza and construction should begin later this year. Korean Air has maintained hope the hotel will open four years from now in March 2017.

Even more interesting about this story is that for all the chatter about this project adding downtown LA rooms at just the right time -- Travel Weekly talks about the great growth of revenue per room in LA -- the City of Angels will actually come out of with about 375 less hotel rooms (the original Wilshire Grand had 1,275 rooms whereas the new hotel will have 900).

That said, something tells us the room rate thing will work itself out naturally, given the likelihood that the new hotel will be a pricey stay when it's all said and done. Should we take bets on what the rates will be? The hotel will feature a sky lobby on the 70th floor along with a restaurant, bar, and infinity pool. The exterior will be all decked out "Times Square style" with lights and advertisements.

To be honest, whether it's $100 or $300 a night, we're happy to see more renovations taking place in the downtown area. Anyone who's stayed or visited in the past few years knows it's been slowly gaining steam, and it's great to see the trend continue.

Photo: [Rendering via LADowntownNews.com and archicentral.com ]

Hotels mentioned in this story

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Wilshire Grand

Actually the hotel preclosure had 900 rooms so there is no change in the inventory. Not sure where the 1275 referenced in the article came from. Maybe they had that back when the doors opened as a Statler in 1952.
Brucereich on February 20, 2013 at 8:16 AM #Permalink

Re: Wilshire Grand

Thanks for your note Bruce. That number was uncovered in another source when I was researching the article. I believe the original Wilshire did indeed have 1275.
wakeandwander on February 20, 2013 at 3:54 PM #Permalink

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