Meeting News - January 7, 2008 - (Page 28)

Destination Insider: L.A. & The Beaches continued from page 27 became a big consumer event, is now an invitationonly business summit held in Santa Monica, and E for All was born, with “rigorous booth approvals.” IDG is betting on the city as a destination not only for its video gaming events, but for the GreenXchange Xpo, which will debut at the LACC this October.“From the green side, there’s probably not a better market or laboratory than [Los Angeles]; we have a lot of pollution challenges. We have eight engineering schools and a large number of engineering firms,” said Wally Baker, one of the show’s co-founders, and one of the principals of VerdeXchange Institute, a think tank. In addition, he said the Port of Los Angeles presents its own environmental challenges. Of course, it was important that the facility hosting the meeting has good green credentials. Currently, 20 percent of the LACC operates on renewable energy sources; it plans to be 100-percent reliant on renewable sources by July. Support from the business community, the port, and the mayor’s office and the potential to draw celebrities and media to the event make Los Angeles the ideal site for the green expo, according to the organizers. A preliminary conference for shaping the show’s agenda was held Dec. 10-11 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in the city. —Julie Barker L.A. Gets Grand Frank Gehry’s Grand Ave. project is on Construction began in December on the ﬁrst phase of the long-anticipated $3-billion Grand Avenue redevelopment project. Designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, it will eventually encompass three full blocks and 3.6 million sf of retail, restaurants, entertainment, and housing. The phase-one site is directly across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Grand Avenue; the For Now, Hollywood Loses 61 Stars Part of Walk of Fame is removed for development of W hotel, while Pantages Theatre will be ﬁnished to its original vision os Angeles attendees looking for the Hollywood Walk of Fame stars of Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Donna Reed, and 57 other Tinseltown legends will have to wait until 2009, when the plaques are returned to their spots at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. The stars were moved to a secure site while construction takes place on a W hotel and retail stores at the famed intersection (also the site of the Kodak Theatre and the Oscars). The development that includes the 205-room W, a 143-unit W Residences, 375 luxury apartments, and 50,000 sf of retail space is a $600-million undertaking. It debuts in 2009. On the same block on Hollywood Boulevard, the Pantages Theatre, site of the long-running musical Wicked, is about to be completed—nearly 80 years after it opened. The 1929 stock market crash halted construction of the theater at two stories high. The Art Deco building was intended to be 12 stories tall. Last month, representatives of the Nederlander family, owner of the Pantages and many Broadway theaters in New York, announced its intention to add those remaining 10 stories. At a cost of $75 to $100 million, the new ﬂoors will house ofﬁces and be true to the original building blueprints. Completion is slated for sometime in 2012. —Irene Korn L Sharon Stone’s Walk of Fame star (above) will stay put, but many others have been removed for construction of a W hotel and retail plaza. Nearby, the landmark Pantages Theatre will be built up to its original 12-story design. One of the 223 high-end suites of LXR’s London West Hollywood Music Center, Colburn School of Performing Arts, and Museum of Contemporary Art are in the area. The ﬁrst phase, due by 2011, includes 1.3 million sf of restaurants, retail, entertainment/nightlife, and a 48-story condo hotel tower with a 295-room Mandarin Oriental. Development of a 16-acre civic park, with terraces, lawns, gardens, and plazas, is slated for next fall. —Irene Korn London & NYC, Meet Hollywood LXR is opening sister property of New York’s London NYC hotel Hollywood glamour, English countryside, and modern sophistication will meld at the London West Hollywood hotel, when the former Bel Age continued on page 30 28 MeetingNews January 7, 2008 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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