The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles, shown here in a rendering, will be one of a kind in the city. Located in the tallest high rise to go up in L.A. in more than a decade, its rooms are sandwiched between the decidedly more mundane JW Marriott hotel on the tower’s first 20 floors and ultra luxurious condominiums starting at $1.5 million on floor 27 to the top on floor 54. Guests can unwind at the luxurious private spa and lounge, and indulge at a gourmet restaurant with panoramic views. An outdoor pool offers a retreat atop the 24th floor lobby. The nearly $1 billion tower is being developed by AEG, a unit of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz’s holding company. It will form the cornerstone of the 4 million-square-foot L.A. Live sports and entertainment complex.

Ted Tanner has been a key figure in unlocking downtown’s potential.

A decade ago he helped secure the 10-acre plot where Staples Center was built. And he’s project manager of the $2.5 billion L.A. Live entertainment village housing the Nokia Theatre and soon to come the Grammy Museum, restaurants, nightclubs and movie theaters.

Quite a resume.

Now add to all that his management of the nearly $1 billion convention center hotel project that is the cornerstone of L.A. Live with its posh Ritz-Carlton hotel sandwiched between a JW Marriott hotel and luxury condominiums soaring to 54 stories.

Yet, 10 years after the launch of the massive project and just two years away from the completion of the hotel tower the last element of L.A. Live and Tanner is far from relaxed.

“We’re not there yet. There’s still a lot of work ahead to be done. There are still challenges everyday,” said Tanner, senior vice president of real estate for L.A. Live developer AEG, a subsidiary of the Anschutz Co.

Yet the challenges that await should be minor for a real estate veteran like Tanner.

Born in New York and raised in New Jersey, the 61-year-old earned architectural degrees at the universities of Illinois and Pennsylvania. A self-proclaimed “urban guy,” he spent five years teaching and practicing city planning in Philadelphia before working in L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley’s economic development department.

He later went on to work as a vice president for Catellus Corp., a company spun off by the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads to develop railroad lands. Among the highlights of his tenure there: working on the renovation of downtown’s Union Station and the construction of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority headquarters.

When he signed on with AEG in 1998, the waning nightlife of downtown L.A. was just the next conquest. “I think downtown is the area with the most potential,” said Tanner, who lives with wife of 33 years in Pasadena.

But already he’s thinking of his next conquests overseas.

Tanner and his team have sets their sights on international markets for the next ventures similar sports and entertainment complexes in London, Berlin and East Asia.

But for now, Tanner plans to take advantage of his own hard work and buy one of the condos above the Ritz-Carlton.

“I recently stood up on the 22 nd level, and there won’t be any tall buildings interrupting those terrific views,” he said. “My room’s going to be on the 27th.”

Alicia Barber

DEVELOPER:

TED TANNER

Senior Vice President of Real Estate, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)

Favorite Hotel: “I used to really like the former Ritz in Pasadena; the Langham Hotel; the Beverly Hills Peninsula; Shutters in Santa Monica.”

Standout Feature: “The fact that it’s part of one 54-story building. Two hotels together under common management and sales provides operating efficiency.”

Development: “I love working with the people on my team.”

L.A. Live: “You don’t have to get into your car to go from place to place. There are so many variations for people, from families who live there, to corporate execs staying there during the week, to athletes and entertainers going there to be entertained.”

GENERAL CONTRACTOR:

JOE WATHEN

Vice President, Webcor

Notable Projects: “I worked on the King Saud University project in Saudia Arabia in 1980, which was a $2 billion project. I was only a year out of college. It was a great project to be on that early in my career. I also did the San Jose Arena for the San Jose Sharks.”

Favorite Hotel: The Bali Hyatt in Bali. “The hotel is tucked into the landscape so when you get on a boat and go out into the lagoon and turn back around and look at shore where the hotel is, it’s gone. It just disappears into jungle.”

Best Part of the Job: “The people I get to work with. On a project like this, it certainly has attracted some of best in business.”

L.A.: “I actually came down here from the Bay Area about four years ago. Working in this business, most of my projects have been in the downtown area. And to be able to be part of changing the skyline with not only this project but some of other projects we’ve been involved in has really been rewarding.”

SENIOR PROJECT DESIGNER:

SHAWN GEHLE

Associate, Gensler

Notable Projects: “I worked on a David and Lucille Packard Foundation office building, which was nationally awarded for applied research and sustainability. I also worked on the Southgate Educational Center, a building for the East Los Angeles Community College. It has taken on an existing Firestone factory from the 1920s.”

Local Favorite: “I think the Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles in terms of experiencing L.A. in a very different way. The Bonaventure is sort of quintessential automobile-centric L.A. hotel because of its relationship to the freeway.”

Best Part of the Job: “That I get paid to be creative, which is a natural. People value doing things that are unique to them. This work is not cookie cutter and standard in any way.”

L.A.: “I think because there are so many different industries here relative to entertainment, there’s really a social freshness with the ideas that people come up with.”

ARCHITECT:

KAP MALIK

Principal, Gensler

Notable Projects: “I’ve done quite a few airports, including San Diego. I’m working on an exposition center in Burj Dubai, the tallest building in construction in the world. I’m also doing the Las Vegas MGM People Mover for the City Center, the Sunset Millennium Hotel on Sunset and La Cienega, and the Hard Rock in Atlanta.”

Favorite Hotel: The Kapinski Hotel in Munich. “That project intrigues me because it was holistically designed by an architect who did the interiors, the furniture, the whole thing.”

Best Part of the Job:

“I kind of look at my career in 10 year phases, and each phase has been very different. It’s always a learning process. I think I enjoy it the most when projects are in conceptual and schematic design. After that, I absolutely love being involved in projects before construction. I love the interaction with the client.”