Downtown Building Boom in Full Swing

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The Downtown building boom is now in full swing, with 154 projects costing $12.2 billion either recently completed, under way or in the planning stages, according to a study released Thursday by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District.


The study conducted by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. says the construction alone should generate 174,000 jobs and $25.9 billion in direct economic impacts.


Once the building boom is completed, revenues generated by all of the new businesses and residents are expected to reach $8 billion a year. That in turn will pump $180 million in tax revenues into local government coffers, the study said.


“This economic impact study not only confirmed but exceeded our expectations for the revitalization of Downtown and the impact it’s having on the city and county of Los Angeles,” said Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the Downtown Center BID.


When all the residential projects are completed, the study says an estimated 26,500 housing units will have been added, whose residents will pull in $2.3 billion in income. New business investment in the area will create 79,000 full-time jobs paying $2.2 billion a year in wages and salaries.


The study also detailed the rebound in downtown tourism, noting that 12 million day and overnight visitors came through downtown in 2005, up 30 percent from 2003.

(2004 figures were not available)

Those visits generated an estimated $1.2 billion in direct economic impact, including $28.7 million in annual hotel bed and retail sales taxes for the city of Los Angeles. They also supported about 13,200 jobs in the downtown area.

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Howard Fine
Howard Fine is a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Business Journal. He covers stories pertaining to healthcare, biomedicine, energy, engineering, construction, and infrastructure. He has won several awards, including Best Body of Work for a single reporter from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers and Distinguished Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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