L.A. Live lures conventions downtown
Bookings increase as night life and developments grow.
The old sales pitch to lure conventions to downtown Los Angeles had an air of desperation to it: Please, please come to sunny L.A.
Slim pickings for restaurants? Lackluster night life? No worries! Hollywood and Santa Monica are just a few miles away.
The begging appears to be over.
The promise of 1,001 new hotel rooms, the Nokia Theatre and about a dozen restaurants and entertainment venues opening by year's end at the new L.A. Live complex near Staples Center has helped the city's convention bureau book a record 53 future conventions during the fiscal year that ended June 30.
That's a 29% jump over 2007. Hotel room reservations are up 22%.
Downtown boosters -- busy mailing "Reborn. Remarkable. Downtown L.A." fliers -- are cheering the convention boom, projecting that the bonanza will funnel $360 million into the local economy.
Industry experts say there's no risk of Los Angeles dethroning Las Vegas as the convention capital. And even Anaheim has nearly three times as many hotel rooms close to its convention center.
Even so, convention officials point to the increased bookings as a sign that downtown Los Angeles may have finally beaten its rap as a bad area for conventions.
"We're finding ourselves picking up conventions that we have not been able to attract to Los Angeles," said Mark Liberman, president and chief executive of LA Inc., the city's convention and visitors bureau.
"They see changes that have taken place. . . . If I can get you here to see the changes, we have an excellent chance of booking it."
All it takes is a visit downtown, Liberman said, where meeting planners can see firsthand the cranes, construction and new restaurants within walking distance of the convention center.
More is slated to open soon at L.A. Live, a $2.5-billion, 4-million-square-foot project owned by AEG. November and December openings are to include the Grammy Museum, a Regal Cinemas, an 18-lane Lucky Strike bowling alley, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Yard House bar and restaurant.
The JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton plan to add 1,001 hotel rooms by the end of 2010, bumping the total hotel rooms downtown to about 7,500.
Booking conventions is a sales job, and LA Inc. officials are getting an assist from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and executives at L.A. Live.
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