Developers: Angels Landing Still Moving Forward in Bunker Hill Despite Pandemic

Developers of the long-planned Angels Landing project in DTLA’s Bunker Hill neighborhood on Monday in a press release “reaffirmed their commitment to move forward” with the $2 billion hotel high-rise development. Angels Landing Partners, LLC—MacFarlane Partners, The Peebles Corporation, and Claridge Properties, LLC—currently has its environmental impact report (EIR) being reviewed by L.A. City’s land use and planning officials for the project. Per planning documents from last year, Angels Landing wouldn’t be complete until 2028.

“We have high confidence in the City of Angels,” Victor B. MacFarlane, chairman and CEO, MacFarlane Partners, said in Monday’s release. “We are looking forward to solidifying our investment in L.A.’s future. We know the financial and economic challenges ahead will be great, but we remain optimistic about the journey ahead in the second-largest city in the nation. We have already spent, all costs factored, close to $10 million to move our Angels Landing development project forward. We intend to stay-the-course to seek project entitlement approval from city leaders and we are committed to spending millions of dollars more to commence construction of Angels Landing as soon as possible.”

Angels Landing calls for two towers, each being anchored by its own five-star hotel. In addition to the hotels, Angels Landing Plaza will feature an expansive modern urban park—”a vibrant pedestrian-centered, transit-adjacent mecca that will be publicly accessible and privately managed to create and maintain an inviting, treasured open space environment for downtown L.A.’s community residents, weekday commuters, nightlife aficionados, hotel guests and tourists.”

The project is projected to create upwards of 8,300 new jobs and generate millions in annual tax revenues for Los Angeles, according to an analysis prepared by New York City-based BJH Advisors, LLC, as outlined in the release. The firm’s report estimates that once built, Angels Landing would additionally create more than 800 new permanent jobs in DTLA spanning an array of occupations needed to support the two hotel properties and retail outlets proposed for the Angels Landing project. An estimated 500 added new jobs would be created by vendors in the L.A. County region providing goods and services to the hotels.

In addition to new job creation, the BJH Advisors analysis projects Angels Landing would give L.A.’s local economy a $1.6 billion boost and contribute $731 million to local worker’s earnings during its construction. The project would generate as estimated 12 million in recurring tax revenues and $2.4 million annually in local property tax revenues, according to the report.