AEG wants to expand Los Angeles Convention Center, neighboring Marriott

Los Angeles Convention Center operator AEG is proposing a major, $1.2 billion expansion of the center and neighboring J.W. Marriott hotel—and some important city officials are already on board, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The plan would tack on 350,000 square feet to the convention center, boosting its total size to more than 1.2 million square feet. AEG has hired Populous to do the “near-term design work” on the expansion, AEG spokesperson Michael Roth tells Curbed.

AEG also plans to expand the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live, creating a 40-story tower with 850 rooms next to the existing hotel. (This is a different location than a proposed 2015 expansion for the hotel, which would have built north of Olympic.)

The newest plans for the hotel expansion call for building pedestrian bridges over Olympic Boulevard to connect to the convention center.

AEG says the project could open as early as 2021 “with the commitment of requisite support and resources.” Mayor Eric Garcetti told the Times he would like to see the project completed no later than 2022.

AEG has partnered with another company, Plenary Group, for this project. They propose funding the expansion in exchange for a break on paying hotel bed taxes. The city would also have to make yearly payments to the developers. The amount of those payments hasn’t yet been determined, according to the LA Times.

A convention center remodel has been on the horizon for years.

In 2014, the city held a competition for redesigning the center and in 2015, it picked a brightly colored winner by Populous and HMC Architects. But not long after that, the city began to look into a public-private partnership to redesign the complex.

AEG says their proposal “represents a way to finally get these projects done.”

• AEG proposes $1.2-billion expansion of L.A. Convention Center and JW Marriott hotel [Los Angeles Times]
• Here’s the Proposed New Design For the LA Convention Center [Curbed LA]
• Los Angeles May Throw Out Convention Center Redesign Plan For Something Much Bigger [Curbed LA]