AEG’s Billion Dollar Groundbreaking

Anschutz Entertainment Group President/CEO Tim Leiweke led the party September 15th at the company’s official groundbreaking of l.a. live, the multibillion-dollar, 4-million-square-foot downtown Los Angeles sports and entertainment district.

The project, located adjacent to the Staples Center, is said to be the largest development in Los Angeles history. It will comprise a mix of venues and facilities including the 7,000-seat Nokia Theatre and Latin music club The Conga Room.

“This project is real, this project is happening and this project is important,” Leiweke said. “L.a. live will give Los Angeles the ability to attract the best and most important events for our city.”

AEG has invested nearly $1 billion and an additional $3.5 billion will come from other private investors.

Their commitment “has brought [Los Angeles] a fully privatized, fully financed and fully entitled development – a $4.2 billion development that does not require any public subsidy,” Leiweke said.

At the groundbreaking, he announced several of the project’s business partners including ESPN, Regal Entertainment Group, the Grammy Museum, several dining establishments and Hilton Hotels.

ESPN will build a regional headquarters and sports entertainment venue.

Regal, an Anschutz-owned company, will develop a 90,000-square-foot cinema complex with 3,700 seats. AEG has previously used Regal to simulcast concerts onto movie screens.

The Grammy Museum will be housed in a 28,000-square-foot space designed for a permanent display of music genres and the science of recorded music. It will also feature new interactive presentations recognizing past and present Grammy winners.

The l.a. live project is expected to generate more than 5,500 jobs initially, and in excess of 13,300 jobs over the course of construction, according to AEG.