Photos: Wilshire Grand

A pedestrian walks past the Wilshire Grand hotel, center, currently under construction at Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles. When finished, the Wilshire Grand will rise 1,100 feet high and become the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

March 8, 2016 5:05 PM PT

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Workers, architects and engineers gathered Tuesday afternoon to celebrate a milestone in the construction of the Wilshire Grand hotel, Los Angeles’ most notable skyscraper at the corner of Figueroa Street and Wilshire Boulevard. The building will become the largest skyscraper in the United States west of Chicago when completed.

Brett Baker welds a belt truss to a box column on the 70th floor of the Wilshire Grand, currently under construction in downtown Los Angeles.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The Wilshire Grand, far right, will be the tallest building in the Los Angeles skyline when it is completed, surpassing the U.S. Bank Tower, at left.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Glass foreman Gary Wahlenmaier, right, looks on as glaziers Carlos Riviera, left, and Joe Guevara sign their names on a 35-foot-long steel beam inside the Wilshire Grand, currently under construction. The beam was later raised up by a crane to the 72nd floor where it was bolted in place.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

A welder works on the framing of the skylight located inside the atrium of the Wilshire Grand Center, under construction in downtown Los Angeles.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

A construction worker reaches out with a tag line as a crane operator lowers a window into position at the Wilshire Grand Center.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Luis Sanchez, left, and Anthony Gutierrez work on level 64. of the Wilshire Grand Center.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The Wilshire Grand Center, left with cranes on top, as seen from Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Los Angeles.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The Wilshire Grand Center, which is under construction in downtown Los Angeles, will feature an InterContinental hotel. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The rising Wilshire Grand Center in downtown L.A. reflected in the Wedbush Building.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Taping foreman Luis Cervantes, left, and taper Raymundo Avendano, apply fire tape to the dry wall on level 53 of the Wilshire Grand Center.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Carpenters David Sprenger, left, and Abel Castaneda, work on the 51st floor of the Wilshire Grand Center.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Iron worker Paul Graham, with safety line attached, walks along a 7 1/2 inch steel beam, as work begins on putting up the framework for the New Wilshire Grand project.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

An iron worker grabs onto a tag line while guiding a rebar wall into position above the concrete core of the New Wilshire Grand project.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Iron worker Javier Jimenez guides a rebar wall, approximately 32 feet by19 feet into position as it hangs from a crane above the New Wilshire Grand project.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Welder Marvin Chapman welds clips onto a steel column at Schuff Steel in Phoenix Schuff Steel is fabricating steel that will be used to build the new Wilshire Grand hotel.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

A steel beam is moved into position by crane at Schuff Steel in Eloy, Ariz., on Nov. 17, 2014. Schuff Steel is fabricating steel that will be used to build the new Wilshire Grand hotel.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)