Council advances downtown convention-hotel talks with substitute motion as amended

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday adopted a substitute amending motion to advance discussions about a proposed downtown hotel intended to support the Los Angeles Convention Center, approving the measure as amended by an 11-aye vote.

The motion, introduced by Councilmember Jan Perry, requires the city and the developer to pursue options to protect the city’s public investment, to explore potential revenue sources and to open discussions on minority business participation. The substitute as amended also adds the city administrative officer and the Community Redevelopment Agency to follow-up discussions and requests additional time-limited deliverables from the developer team.

Why this matters: City officials said a hotel adjacent to the convention center would strengthen the center’s ability to attract major conventions — revenue that supports the city’s transit occupancy taxes and helps cover long-term bonds related to convention center facilities.

Convention center general manager George Reikens told the council the city has sought a nearby hotel for years to improve marketability and long-term bookings. “For the last 15 years, the city has been hoping to attract a hotel in the downtown area near the convention center so we can improve our overall marketability of Los Angeles to the convention industry,” Reikens said during his remarks.

The measure drew a mix of support and opposition. Councilmember Nate Holden said he remained skeptical of the deal as written, saying, “It’s a bad deal. I’m gonna repeat that.” Other council members pressed for safeguards to limit taxpayer exposure if the hotel does not materialize quickly. Councilmember Reyes and others said the substitute motion put the council on a better path; Reyes noted the city and development team had provided overviews and briefings to council members during the break.

Councilmember Pacheco said he supported moving forward and told colleagues he would back limited public assistance: “Starting the ball rolling today, by committing $12,000,000 subsidy, to the new hotel, I’m ready to do that today,” he said, while others warned against additional public subsidies.

Perry said the substitute motion reflected follow-up talks with the development team and aimed to narrow the potential need for city subsidy by identifying revenue and mitigation options. She also said the council would require more timely progress than earlier timelines suggested: “We need to make sure that they come back in 6 months with more information and more thresholds to help us shape and hone our strategy,” Perry said.

After multiple amendments — including a Perry amendment to substitute the word “approval” with “consent” in one clause and to add the CAO and the CRA to discussions — the council voted to substitute and then to adopt the substitute as amended. The clerk recorded the substitute-as-amended vote as 11 ayes.

What’s next: The motion requires follow-up work by city staff and the developer team; Perry asked for further information and thresholds on minority participation and revenue options in the months ahead. The council also recorded a procedural previous-question vote earlier in the discussion and processed the substitute before voting on related amending motions.

The discussion spanned multiple council members and city staff, and reflected long-running debate about whether the city should rely on market forces and private investment or provide limited public subsidy to secure a hotel near the convention center.