Downtown Los Angeles welcomed its first official convention center headquarters hotel — and its newest skyscraper in years — on Tuesday, Feb. 16 with the official opening of the JW Marriott Hotel Los Angeles at L.A. Live. The 878-room hotel, which is part of a 54-story tower that will also house The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles (opening in mid-March) and The Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. Live (also opening in mid-March), cost some $1.2 billion to build and comprises the final cornerstone of AEG Worldwide’s massive $2.5 billion L.A. Live entertainment, sports and retail complex.
The ceremony included appearances and speeches from Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles councilwoman Jan Perry, AEG Worldwide president and CEO Tim Leiweke and LA Inc. president Mark Lieberman.
Remarking on the opening of the new hotel, Villaraigosa said, “What we lacked was a world-class convention center hotel but now, we have it all. It makes us competitive and makes us attractive and the interest in L.A. has increased tenfold.”
The hotel, which housed its first guests the night before, was fully booked for its first three days of opening as it played host to the annual Pollstar convention. The JW Marriott contains nearly 100,000 square feet of indoor meeting and event space and is steps away from the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Other features of the hotel include Glance, a lobby lounge and bar; L.A. Market, a full-service restaurant headed by chef Kerry Simon; The Mixing Room, a classic cocktail bar; Illy’s Coffee Bar; a 4,000 square-foot fitness center; and Ion, an outdoor rooftop pool and bar on the fourth floor.
www.lalivemarriott.com
