The 1952 Wilshire Grand hotel finally started for-real coming down today at a big press event at which officials "cut a ceremonial beam out of the building's iconic entrance on Wilshire Blvd." (The building's been closed since last year.) Korean Air is redeveloping the site with an enormous tower (scaled back from two towers)--it'll be 70 stories with a lobby on the top floor and have 900 hotel rooms, 400,00 square feet of office space, and "exciting new restaurants," according to a press release. Those 70 stories will make it second tallest in Los Angeles only to the US Bank building. AC Martin is designing the building, but so far renderings are still pretty sketchy. Deconstruction should take about a year as the building is "dismantled piece-by-piece to allow for recycling of raw materials and [to] reduce traffic impacts to neighbors." The new Wilshire Grand is set to open in 2017.
· New Wilshire Grand Will Only Be LA's Second Tallest Tower [Curbed LA]
· What You Need to Know About the Wilshire Grand Work [Curbed LA]
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Work Officially Begins at Site of LA's Second Tallest Tower
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