Construction Starts on $172M Marriott Tower in Downtown L.A.

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Nearly 400 guest rooms will soon be added to the bustling downtown Los Angeles hotel market now that work is under way on a 373,000-square-foot high-rise that will host a Courtyard by Marriott and a Residence Inn by Marriott. American Life Inc. and Williams/Dame & Associates are behind the project, which carries a development price tag of $172 million.

The 23-story hotel tower encompassing the 174-key Courtyard and the 218-key Residence Inn will sprout up in the right place within the city’s rebounding hotel market. With the 4 million-square-foot mixed-use L.A. Live entertainment complex helping to drive Downtown Los Angeles’ renaissance, the area is drawing tourists like honey attracts bees.

Additionally, the thriving Downtown office market is generating increased demand, as is the Los Angeles Convention Center. Located just a stone’s throw from the new Marriott site, the convention center is expected to be the source of the new hotels’ primary target audience. The supply/demand imbalance in lodging accommodations near the LACC has long gone unaddressed.

“The number of guestrooms in the downtown submarket is still considered to be relatively low compared to other major convention and leisure cities in California and the United States,” according to a report by HVS Consulting and Valuation. “Prior to the opening of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels, the marketability of the Los Angeles Convention Center was impaired by the lack of hotels within walking distance of the convention center. Based on discussions with convention center representatives, LACC had historically lost larger city-wide conventions to other area convention centers with more committable guestrooms, such as Anaheim, San Diego, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.”

The Courtyard/Marriott property will also carry the distinction of being the only nationally-branded extended-stay and select-service hotel destinations near the convention center.

With SODO Builders LA L.L.C. on board as general contractor, American Life and Williams/Dame expect to open the doors of the hotel tower in summer 2014.