Plans for a $1-billion entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles gained ground Thursday when a city panel agreed to subsidize construction of a 55-story hotel, and developers announced they would break ground in two weeks on a 7,100-seat theater.
Pitched by developers as the "Times Square of the West," the 27-acre project is expected to begin construction Sept. 15, when the first dirt is turned for the Nokia Theatre Los Angeles.
Ted Tanner, a vice president with developer L.A. Arena Land Co., told the Community Redevelopment Agency board on Thursday that the theater complex would include restaurants, stores and broadcast facilities as part of an entertainment district called L.A. Live.
L.A. Arena is a subsidiary of Anschutz Entertainment Group, the company headed by billionaire Phillip Anschutz that built and owns Staples Center adjacent to the proposed entertainment district.
Another key element of the project is a 1,100-room hotel topped by 110 luxury condominiums. The hotel project will feature a conference center for 4,000 people and a 15-screen movie theater that will include a 750-seat facility capable of holding film premieres, Tanner told the redevelopment board Thursday.
"This project will be a catalyst for future development and redevelopment in South Park," said Councilwoman Jan Perry, who testified to the board in favor of the hotel financing proposal.
After an hour of sometimes lively debate, board members voted unanimously to approve $16 million in below-market loans to pay for street improvements for the $400-million hotel project, which could also receive $66 million in other city subsidies, including a waiver of building fees and a rebate of the hotel bed tax generated by the hotel for 25 years.
"This is incredibly exciting," said board member Madeline Janis-Aparicio. "It will be so important for downtown."
However, Chris Sutton, an attorney for the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, said a for-profit hotel should be paid for by the private sector, not taxpayers.
"This is a gift of public funds to AEG and the developer," said Sutton, who vowed to pursue a lawsuit filed recently to challenge the hotel subsidy proposal.
Sutton also complained that money for the loan was being drawn from the Bunker Hill Project Area, which does not include the hotel site, and an affordable-housing fund, even though the condos will be high-priced.
