The Real Deal
07/22/19

Keyed Up: LA’s Hotel Development Outpacing the Rest of California
By Gregory Cornfield

https://therealdeal.com/la/2019/07/22/keyed-up-las-hotel-development-outpacing-the-rest-of-california/

Despite earlier signs this year of a slowdown relative to historical data, the hotel industry is still booming, and Los Angeles is still dominating the state in construction.

A report from Atlas Hospitality Group shows 36 new hotels opened in California this year — 10 more than the same point in 2018 — the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. The amount of new hotels in the pipeline statewide also jumped 19 percent from last year.

Four hotels opened so far in 2019 in Los Angeles County: the 271-room Proper Hotel; a 176-room AC Hotel; a 49-room Palihotel; and the smaller nine-room Arts District Firehouse Hotel.

But there are also 45 projects with 7,500 rooms under construction, and 268 projects with 40,190 rooms in the planning stage. The largest project under construction is Lightstone Groups’s 744-room hotel near the L.A. Convention Center.

Many of the projects are set for Downtown. Lawmakers set a goal of adding 8,000 more rooms within walking distance of the soon-to-be expanded Convention Center, and they have awarded millions of dollars in extra tax incentives to developers in order to make it a reality.

For example, Sandstone Properties is planning a 730-room tower near the Convention Center, and last November, AEG filed plans for an 850-room expansion, which could get $100 million in tax incentives.

Other big projects are set for Hollywood. The city recently approved KOAR’s 191-key hotel shortly after Relevant Group earned approval for one of its four projects set in a two-block radius.