AC + Moxy Hotels
los angeles
BEST PROJECT
Sent by: Suffolk Construction
Owner: The Lightstone Group
Main design company: executioner
General contractor: Suffolk Construction
This mixed-use development located adjacent to the Los Angeles Convention Center features two separate service hotels.
Located in a 37-story tower, the two hotels have a combined 727 guest rooms, 8,600 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and 7,200 square feet of conference and meeting space. A seven-story podium contains parking for around 304 vehicles, and at its base, each hotel has retail shops, a bar and restaurants.
A lot of time was spent on planning and pre-construction to ensure safe and efficient major operations such as decommissioning tower cranes, coordinating road infrastructure works and renting car parks to ease potential bottlenecks with delays in material shipment, disposition and storage.
Photo by Michael Kleinberg
Even finding a port to accommodate the acceptance and processing of imported solar-coated glass proved difficult. After passing through Colombia, the project’s shipment was significantly delayed at the Port of Long Beach. The team had early success by shipping the glass to Houston and taking a train to Los Angeles. But when the Port of Houston was damaged by the hurricane, the project team had to ship from Miami.
Travel restrictions created challenges for the New York-based developer. As project elements were modified, improved or added to the hotel designs mid-construction, the contractor used OpenSpace, a 360-degree video platform that documents construction conditions and progress, allowing the group to virtually see the layout of the building.
Completed on budget and on time in June 2023, AC + Moxy is within walking distance of several Los Angeles entertainment venues. The development has improved the urban core of the city centre, improving circulation for pedestrians and revitalizing a busy street.
The front of the building features a 15,000 square meter LED screen that wraps around the corner at an angle of 82.5 degrees. Perfect for advertising, the screen was installed before the building was completed, allowing the owner to start collecting revenue a full year before rooms could be booked. But to make it possible, the team had to make sure that the fire and security systems were operational up to the eighth floor.
