A Renaissance hotel will be built across the street from downtown Los Angeles’ L.A. Live entertainment and retail district.
It will be the fifth hotel within a two-block radius to fly the flag of a Marriott International brand.
The 450-room, $200 million Renaissance will break ground early next year and is scheduled to open in 2016. The hotel will be built on a 1.4-acre parking lot that L.A. Live builder AEG is selling to Portland, Ore.-based developer Williams/Dame & Associates, next to what will be a dual-branded Courtyard by Marriott/Residence Inn property.
The 393-room Courtyard/Residence Inn, developed by Williams/Dame & Associates and American Life, is due to open next year. The building and the Renaissance are across the street from L.A. Live’s dual-branded JW Marriott/Ritz-Carlton, whose 1,001 rooms opened in 2010.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to move on to the adjacent site and continue our hotel development program”, Homer Williams, chairman of Williams/Dame and Associates, said in a statement.
The announcement reflects the continued rush to add hotels to downtown Los Angeles, an area that is “woefully underserved” by hotels, according to Bruce Baltin, a senior vice president in PKF Consulting’s Los Angeles office.
At least 11 downtown Los Angeles hotels totaling almost 5,500 rooms will have been built or extensively renovated between 2010 and 2017. The downtown’s inventory, which stands at about 5,000 hotel rooms, is slated to jump about 40% within the next four years.
The Renaissance will add back upper-upscale rooms Marriott lost in downtown Los Angeles when the former 491-room Marriott Downtown Los Angeles was de-flagged last August.
That property, now known as the L.A. Hotel Downtown, will be reflagged in May as a Hyatt Regency after owner Shenzhen New World Group completes its $20 million renovation of that 30-year-old property.
“It helps Marriott to have different kinds of hotels,” said Baltin, adding that he expects further development announcements from other hotel companies for downtown L.A.. “The JW is not really a business traveler’s hotel. The Renaissance, Courtyard and Residence Inn will be more geared towards the business-travel market.”
The Renaissance brand will regain some Los Angeles presence lost when Loews Hotels & Resorts acquired what was the Renaissance Hollywood and rebranded that 632-room property as the Loews Hollywood.
Renaissance still has the 499-room Renaissance Los Angeles Airport Hotel.