LOS ANGELES – A pair of Marriott hotels have made their debut at LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles. The $172-million project includes the 174-room Courtyard and 219-suite Residence Inn LA Live.
Today’s grand opening marks the West Coast debut of a Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott in one building – a joint development that offered substantial savings on land, staff and amenities. The project was funded by 320 immigrant investors from 14 different countries.
The hotels are located at the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Francisco Street. They are situated adjacent to LA Live on an entitled site that was acquired from AEG, which owns and operates the 4-million-square-foot sports, residential and entertainment hub.
The hotels share a lobby, as well as 11,754 square feet of meeting facilities and 5,100 square feet of restaurant space. The guest rooms feature the first roll out of Samsung Smart TVs on the West Coast, in addition to fully integrated wireless connectivity for the TVs and PDA devices.
The 371,000-square-foot project was built by SODO Builders, American Life’s in-house construction company. It was designed by GBD Architects. Construction was completed in two years, both on time and on budget. The hotels were built to LEED-Silver specifications.
About 95 percent of the project’s funds were provided through the EB-5 foreign investor program. The project partnership is headed by American Life Inc., a Seattle-based real estate development and management company that specializes in EB-5 equity funding from prospective immigrants, and by Williams & Dame Development, a Portland, Ore.-based development firm that has played a key role in the revival of Downtown Los Angeles.
Williams & Dame was also part of the group that helped develop Evo, Luma and Elleven residential towers in Downtown’s South Park neighborhood. Once completed in 2009, these communities represented the first new ground-up residential development projects Downtown Los Angeles had seen in more than 20 years.