LA City Council To Decide On $103M In Public Financing For Hotel Development Near Convention Center

The Los Angeles City Council will decide Friday whether to give $103M in public funds over 25 years for the development of three hotels across the street from the Los Angeles Convention Center.

New York-based Lightstone Group’s Fig+Pico hotel project will consist of two high-rises with three-star hotels — two from Marriott and one Hilton — with a total of 1,130 rooms, according to documents prepared for the city council by Sharon Tso, the city’s chief legislative analyst.

The project is expected to create more than 2,000 full-time and part-time jobs and provide much-needed rooms to the area for convention visitors and tourists as the city prepares to host the 2028 Olympics.

Fig+Pico will generate $488M in net new revenues to the city, according to Keyser Marston Associates, the company hired by the city to analyze the cost and financing of the project.

Due to the cost of concrete-and-steel high-rise construction and the location of the project, Lightstone has a finance gap of $67.4M, KMA estimates.

The city offers an incentive program that allows developers to receive no more than 50% of net new revenues or no more than the estimated finance gap for projects, according to KMA.

To protect the general fund, the city does not begin to make payments until the project has been built, opened and is generating transient occupancy tax.

The Fig+Pico project will consist of one tower with a 410-room AC Hotel and a 410-room Moxy Hotel. Another tower will face Pico Boulevard and will contain a 310-room Hilton Garden Inn Hotel.

As part of the deal and the project, the council’s Economic Development Committee is asking the council to finalize the sale of a city-owned parcel at 1256-1258 South Figueroa St. to Lightstone for $9.6M.

The city council meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in Van Nuys.