Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District

The Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District, also popularly called Times Square West, is a civic center currently under development and construction in the City of Los Angeles in California. Adjacent to the Staples Center (home of the Clippers, Lakers, Kings, Sparks, and Avengers sports teams), the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District is slated to cost approximately USD $1 billion to be paid by owner Anschutz Entertainment Group with help from Los Angeles taxpayers. It will feature six city blocks of apartments, ballrooms, bars, concert theaters, condominiums, restaurants, movie theaters and a hotel.

Related Topics:
Civic center - City of Los Angeles - California - Staples Center - Clippers - Lakers - Kings - Sparks - Avengers - Anschutz Entertainment Group

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Architects and designers were inspired to create a district featuring the same amount of flashiness prominent at Times Square in New York City and the Ginza District of Tokyo. Construction is to begin in fall of 2004 and will be completed in 2014. The district is expected to revive Downtown Los Angeles and help it compete with San Diego and San Francisco for convention center business.

Related Topics:
Architects - Times Square - New York City - Ginza - Tokyo - 2004 - 2014 - San Diego - San Francisco

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The centerpiece of the district is a 55 story, 1,200 room hotel constructed in the parking lot directly north of the Staples Center. The hotel is expected to bring the Los Angeles Convention Center a significant increase of reservations, mainly due to the solution of the existing problem of a lack of nearby hotels to serve convention visitors. Unfortunately, the hotel was delayed in December, 2004, when local hotels complained that the funding for the hotel was unfair, as a significant of the funding came from city funds. Despite this, the rest of the district is unaffected, and most likely the hotel will be eventually built as part of the district as the complaining hotels even admit there is a need (according to late December issues of the Los Angeles Downtown News). The first phase of the project broke ground on 15 September 2005. The first phase will contain the Nokia Theatre, the Nokia Plaza, a retail plaza, as well as an underground parking garage, holding a fraction of the project's expected total of 4,000 parking spaces.

Related Topics:
15 September - 2005

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• Nokia Theatre

The Nokia Theatre will be a premier mid-sized music/theatre venue with 7,100 seats and host about 110 events per year. It will be used by the Latin Grammys and ESPY Awards. It will also venue for live music concerts, comedy shows, family shows, short-run Broadway and community theatre.

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The Nokia Theatre will also be available for product launches, large seminars, and corporate shareholder meetings. The theatre will cost between $85-90 million.

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• Convention Center Headquarters Hotel

Two hotels totaling 1,200 rooms combined into one landmark structure of 55 stories that will be the beacon for the District and a focal point of the entertainment destination.

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• Multi-Screen Cineplex

An 80,000 square foot, 4,000-seat, multi-screen cineplex will include a large 750-seat theatre which will be home to movie premieres in addition to being downtown?s movie theatre showplace. AEG will seek to establish daytime utilization of the smaller cinemas for corporate presentations or as higher learning facilities.

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• Broadcast Media Center & Sports Bar

The broadcast media center will serve as the West Coast regional headquarters for a major television network. In addition to broadcast studio and support space, there also will be a themed restaurant and an action-packed sports bar. A fully equipped radio broadcasting facility, able to support multiple AM/FM stations, will also be created.

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Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District: See also ►