Hotel construction is booming in LA right now, thanks to a record number of tourists in 2012, a tight supply of rooms, and a rebounding economy that has made financing easier to come by. Things were so dead during the recession that one hospitality consultancy stopped tracking new hotel development entirely in 2009. Well courtesy of the LA Business Journal (sub. req.), here's a new number for their spreadsheets: at least 3,399 hotel rooms are being built now or are planned for the next two years. And that's well short of the 5,900 rooms the head of the tourism board says LA could handle without affecting occupancy rates. Downtown, where per room revenue is up 57 percent over last year, there are at least 1,600 rooms in the pipeline, including 900 at the giant new Wilshire Grand, slated to open in 2017. There's also plenty of action along the coast, like at the new Shade Hotel in Redondo Beach, where rooms command a much higher price than in Downtown. But "the high barriers to entry and difficulty earning approval for development projects -- time lines can run as long as 10 years -- means demand will continue to outpace supply" there.
· Hoteliers Find Rooms in L.A. [LABJ, sub. req.]
· Hotels Archives [Curbed LA]
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