Developers Set to Start Staples Center Project
A company controlled by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz is expected to announce today that it is ready to start work on a $1-billion commercial development around Staples Center in Los Angeles that would include a long-awaited hotel to serve the city's convention center.
The 4-million-square-foot entertainment, shopping and residential project, which would cover six blocks near Staples Center, has long been approved by the city. Anschutz's entertainment and development company, AEG, could begin construction by the end of this year.
One thorny issue remains to be resolved: The developers are asking for financial assistance from the city to help make the hotel pencil out. Civic leaders including Mayor James K. Hahn have said they support the project but are reserving judgment on whether to help finance it until they see some numbers.
In the meantime, AEG will begin work on other parts of the project as an act of faith that the city will come through on the hotel, said AEG President Timothy Leiweke.
"Momentum is very fickle, and you have got to show people that this is for real," Leiweke said Tuesday. The hotel would "allow us to book more conventions and keep more conventions."
For more than two decades, city business leaders have complained that the lack of a major hotel next door had made the Los Angeles Convention Center undesirable for events that can attract tens of thousands of out-of-town visitors. San Francisco, San Diego and Anaheim all have large hotels next to their convention halls and consistently attract more meeting business than Los Angeles.
The recent wave of residential construction has given downtown a boost, said hotel consultant Bruce Baltin of PKF Consulting, "but it will never be a viable destination without a headquarters hotel" near the Convention Center.
Christy Richards, who plans the annual convention for the National Assn. of Realtors, said a new hotel would put Los Angeles in the running to host an event that attracts 25,000 participants and is held every other year on the West Coast.
"Right now, the lack of a large anchor hotel at the Convention Center is an obstacle for considering Los Angeles for our annual convention," said Richards, who plans to hold next year's event in San Francisco.
