Downtown LA megaproject could include a hotel, less housing

Developers of one of the largest Los Angeles developments now in the works are considering new possibilities for the project, which would add a trio of skyscrapers to the city’s growing skyline.

When developer City Century announced the South Park project, called Olympia, in December, plans called for 1,367 units of housing. But in an initial study of the project published this week by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, a second option for the development is included with less housing and a hotel component.

That alternative would bring up to 1,000 new hotel rooms to the area, where city officials have been offering up juicy incentives in order to lure more hotel development around the convention center. The total scale of the project wouldn’t change, with three towers rising 65 stories, 43 stories, and 53 stories, respectively, but the total number of housing units would drop to 879.

In either scenario, the project would also include 40,000 square feet of restaurant, retail, and commercial space. Under the first option, the project would include 163,015 square feet of open space and room for residential amenities.

If the hotel component were included, some of that open space would be eliminated and the project would have less parking. Right now, plans call for 2,131 parking spots for vehicles and 1,548 bike spaces. But parking requirements for hotel projects are less stringent than requirements for residential developments; the initial study indicates that the number of parking spaces for the hotel option will be hammered out in an environmental report for the project.

Designed by architecture firms Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Patterns, the three glassy towers would rise at at the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Georgia Street—directly across the street from the LA Live Marriott. Owner AEG once planned to expand the hotel with a new 755-room tower, but called off those plans in 2016.

Even without the Marriott expansion, though, the area isn’t short on hotel projects. By our count, at least three developments within three blocks of this one include a hotel component—not including the recently completed Hotel Indigo at Downtown LA megaproject Metropolis.

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