Marriott to Create the 'Los Angeles Edition' Downtown

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The Times reports that Marriott is bringing a “boutique” hotel to Downtown as part of a joint venture between the firm and hotelier Ian Schrager.

Marriott and Schrager declined to say exactly where in downtown and Hollywood the hotels would be, but they are expected to open in about three years and have about 200 rooms apiece.

They would be part of the new Edition chain – as in, the Los Angeles Edition. Other Editions are planned in Paris, Madrid, Costa Rica, Miami, Washington, Chicago and Scottsdale, Ariz.

“We’re going to use a lot of different designers and each one will be totally different,” Schrager said.

It’s unclear whether the venture would intend to build a new hotel or to rehab an existing structure. The former Embassy Auditorium is still without a hotel partner after the May pullout of NYC-based Gansevoort, and would be roughly the size in question (plans had called for 170 rooms).

Update (11am): Added information on LASED Olympic North zone, hinted at in the Washington Post story.

Olympic North sub area shown in relation to Olympic East, site of the Nokia Theatre. Map from LAESD Specific Plan.

In the comments below, Rich links to this Washington Post story on the venture, which mentions a possible site as part of L.A. Live. That complex is part of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District specific plan, which specifies permitted uses and master plans five large parcels. Two are under the current L.A. Live development, one is the lot where Fig Central is supposed to go, one is the site for South Figueroa and the final parcel is an undeveloped site on the north side of Olympic boulevard.

This last piece, the Olympic North sub area, would be the site of any additional hotel development in the LAESD area. Currently a surface parking lot, the site is owned by the L.A. Arena Land Company, the entity created for L.A. Live development. The plan calls for the site to include 200 - 400 rooms of hotel uses, and up to 100 residential units in 500,000 sq. ft. of development.

Now, is that where this new venture is going to go? That we don’t know. It is, though, where an additional hotel use would go if it were going into the LAESD land.