Planners OK Hotel Complex Near Staples

A sprawling hotel and entertainment complex next to Staples Center won approval Wednesday from the city Planning Commission, a key step forward for a proposal that could transform 27 acres of parking lots into a major downtown attraction.

The proposal by the owners of Staples Center still must go before the City Council, where it could become mired in controversy over potential taxpayer subsidies.

The project also faces dozens of other hurdles before construction can begin. Most notably, the developers must line up financing. They expect the project to take eight years to build.

The anchor of the new development would be a 45-story hotel with at least 1,200 rooms at Olympic Boulevard and Georgia Street. The project would also include a 7,000-seat theater for musicals, award shows and other live entertainment. Restaurants, nightclubs and retail stores would be built around a plaza.

“Our goal is to make it very comfortable for people to walk around and linger in an outdoor setting,” said Ted Tanner, senior vice president at L.A. Arena Land Co., one of the development companies.

Also part of the plan is a 250,000-square-foot expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Two apartment towers with a total of 800 units would also be built, along with a second hotel with as many as 600 rooms.

The Planning Commission voted 5 to 0 on Wednesday to approve the general development plan and the zoning changes needed to build the project. Under an agreement with the city, the developers would have to cover some of the cost of widening the 9th Street offramp from the northboundHarbor Freeway.

For now, the development team, which includes media mogul Rupert Murdoch and railroad magnate Phil Anschutz, is dodging the politically charged issue of taxpayer subsidies. The development plan approved by the Planning Commission does not address the issue of taxpayer help.

But Tanner said the developers might later request public subsidies for the hotel.

With the mayoral campaign in full swing, any request now for taxpayer assistance would no doubt provoke controversy on the council. Councilman Joel Wachs made his crusade against public subsidies for Staples Center the centerpiece of his unsuccessful mayoral campaign.

Both contenders in the mayoral runoff election, James K. Hahn and Antonio Villaraigosa, said Tuesday in a debate that they would oppose taxpayer subsidies for the project.

At a recent public hearing on the proposal, some community leaders voiced concerns about too many businesses in the area selling alcoholic beverages. The proposal approved by the Planning Commission would allow up to 28 liquor licenses for bars, restaurants, nightclubs or stores.