Downtown L.A. Project Seeks High Sign from City

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Is it going to be a big building? Or is it going to be a big sign? It may be both.

Developers of a massive downtown L.A. complex anchored by two skyscrapers on the site of the Wilshire Grand hotel are asking for a nearly 380,000-square-foot-sign district that would allow them to incorporate animated and static image advertising on the sides of the towers.

It may not be a surprise that the proposal is already drawing criticism from those fighting to restrict billboards and digital signs.

The plan by Korean Air and downtown L.A. real estate firm Thomas Properties Group Inc., which are developing the project in partnership, calls for signs that would cover the 1.75 million-square-foot development with gigantic animated and static displays with a lighting system that’s built into the skin of the building.

If the City Council approves the sign proposal after public hearings and a report by the Planning Department – four-and-half-foot-wide strips of light-emitting diodes would be imbedded in the beams of the two-high rises between floors, leaving the buildings’ windows unobstructed.

The signs, which could cover up to 80 percent of sections on the two buildings, would include scrolling news tickers toward the bottom of the buildings and large-scale animation that could display text or images and change as often as every eight seconds.

The project would replace the 896-room Wilshire Grand hotel with a 45-story, 560-room luxury hotel topped by 100 condominiums; a 65-story office building; a six-story building between the two towers with space for ballrooms, meeting rooms and restaurants; and a small outdoor plaza.

“The project enables the continuance of the renaissance of downtown,” said Ayahlushim Hammond, senior vice president at Thomas Properties. “It takes an aging and obsolete hotel building and redevelops it into a state-of-the-art brand-new facility.”

But Dennis Hathaway, president of citizen group Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight, said such large-scale LED signs could create traffic hazards because they would be visible from nearby freeways, and would be a nuisance to residents of nearby apartment and condo buildings.

“It’s all about selling advertising and turning buildings into sales pitches,” said Hathaway, who’s planning to complain to the Planning department. “And I don’t think that’s healthy for the city and I don’t think that’s what the majority of the people in the city want.”

Hammond said the signs at the project would be tasteful because they would be a combination of advertisements and images that could be considered artwork. What’s more, she said the brightness of the lights can be lowered at anytime.

“It’s really stunning to see,” she said. “You can tell it is part of the fabric of the building.”

Also, the City Council’s Housing, Community and Economic Development Committee agreed to the developers’ request to consider tax breaks – similar to the ones given to the Convention Center hotel at L.A. Live – for the project. The companies have said they need the city’s assistance to construct the development.

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