An updated rendering of the 23-story Marriott Hotel tower across from LA Live slated to break ground in March 2012 (Photo: CRA LA)
A reader by the name of Patrick Z sends in these updated renderings he spotted from the CRA website of a dual brand combo of Marriott hotels in one 23-story high rise–including a 175-room Marriott Courtyard and 218-room Residence Inn by Marriott totaling 393 rooms–that is slated to break ground this year across from the mega-complex LA Live, which will add even more pedestrian energy to a growing entertainment district. The developer for the project is Portland-based Williams/Dame & Associates.
The updated renderings are somewhat of an improvement aesthetically over the initial earlier one that was released to the public last year. The new renderings suggest that there will be a billboard (possibly LED?) at the corner of the hotel facing the intersection of Olympic Blvd and Francisco St, which would be directly across from the JW Marriott.
Here are some more interesting details about the project from the CRA website:
Ancillary hotel uses within the first two floors include a ground floor restaurant/lounge, coffee/wine bar, hotel shop, meeting rooms and administrative offices; the third level includes the hotel amenities deck which contains a swimming pool and hotel fitness room.
The Project…will include bicycle parking for visitors and staff and electric vehicle charging stations. Furthermore, a 1,000 square foot plaza on the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Francisco Street will create an inviting, pedestrian-friendly entrance for visitors approaching from the LA Live campus and Convention Center.
The latest report from last year had the ground breaking scheduled for March of 2012. Financing was secured with American Life, Inc using EB-5 investments.
The west side of the tower will have the swimming pool deck (Photo: CRA LA)
The actual hotel front entrance faces Francisco St (Photo: CRA LA)
The corner of Olympic Blvd and Francisco St will be fully activated with pedestrian activity as the hotel will have a ground floor restaurant and lounge facing the sidewalk (Photo: CRA LA)
This looks a lot better than the original rendering. Looks like it will be a good edition to the L.A live area. Look forward to seeing more hotels in this area.
a significant improvement! i also like that the main entrance is off Francisco so that Olympic isnt impacted as much. Also, this will tie in nicely with Metropolis.
Like Lawrence and Dion, I definitely agree with this improvement from the original design.
The billboard screen will add depth and liveliness along Olympic Blvd, especially when you view it from Figueroa. The front lobby entrance not only gives added style along a currently boring street, but having this entrance face Francisco St. will definitely start to change this street’s atmosphere.
I like the seating next to the building along Olympic Blvd. However, the entrance to these ground floor amenities (near the corner of Olympic/Francisco as shown in the renderings) is setback a little to far for me. There would be more curbside enticement for pedestrians to walk to if the entrance was closer up front or another grand opening was made available on the west side along Olympic.
While no architectural tour de force, this is certainly a big improvement over the original renderings that looked something out of suburban Phoenix. What a relief.