June 16, 2015

American Life wins award for L.A. Live hotel

Courtesy American Life Inc. [enlarge]

Seattle-based American Life Inc. and Portland-based Williams & Dame Development won this year's Q Award for quality construction in Southern California for a 23-story hotel they built within the L.A. Live complex in Los Angeles.

GBD Architects of Portland designed the 393-room Marriott Courtyard and Residence Inn. Sodo Builders, which is American Life's construction arm, built it, and Seattle-based Degen & Degen were the interior designers.

Construction began in May 2012 on the $168 million project, and it opened May 2014. The equity portion came through the federal EB-5 program, which allows foreign nationals to get green cards in exchange for investing a minimum of $500,000 in “targeted employment areas” or $1 million elsewhere. In a press release, American Life CEO Henry Liebman said in a press release 333 immigrant investors from 14 countries contributed to the project, and Washington Capital Management of Seattle provided a loan.

The hotel includes 10,800 square feet of meeting space, a theater/library in the lobby, 24-hour business center, 24-hour gym, third floor pool deck, bar and cafe and a hotel store. The building also has enhanced cell phone reception, smart televisions in every room, wireless connectivity between TVs and other smart devices and wireless Internet with increased bandwidth in all areas of the hotel.

L.A. Live is a $2.5 billion entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles with 4 million square feet of sports, entertainment, hotels and residential space adjacent to the Staples Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The Alliance for Quality Construction, an association of union contractors and building trade unions, gives the Q Award each year to a project in Los Angeles or Orange counties that shows quality craftsmanship and uses apprentices and union workers.