Inside the Construction at the Future Tallest Tower in the West

Anyone who's passed by the Financial District on surface streets or the 110 Freeway has probably noticed that construction on the tallest tower in the West, the 73-story Wilshire Grand, is pumping along. It's been about a year and a half since that record-setting concrete pour that laid its foundation, and, as seen in Urbanize LA's recent tour, 53 stories of the edifice's fortified core are now complete. The photos give a good sense of what's done and how much there is left to go before the Wilshire Grand's hugely-anticipated opening in 2017.

The Wilshire Grand will hold a fancy hotel, a four-star affair operated by InterContinental Hotels Group. Expect a chic seventieth-floor sky lobby and a very high-up pool deck. Speeding things along on the construction front is the off-site fabrication of the 900 hotel rooms and restrooms, which will futuristically be popped into place once they're finished.

In addition to those hotel rooms, the Wilshire Grand will also have 400,000 square feet of office space and 45,000 square feet of retail space on the lower floors when it opens in mid-2017. Until then, enjoy the tour through this incredible, towering space.

· A Grand Tour of the Wilshire Grand [Urbanize LA]
· BREAKING: Tallest Hotel in the West Will Be an InterContinental [Curbed LA]
· Front-Row Photos From Wilshire Grand's Record-Setting Pour [Curbed LA]
· How the Wilshire Grand Will Stay Upright in a Major Earthquake [Curbed LA]