Hanjin Group and Korean Air have kicked off the reconstruction of a 73-story building, the Wilshire Grand Center, which will include the Wilshire Grand Hotel, on Figueroa Street in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, which will be the tallest building west of the Mississippi River in the United States, the group said.
Chairman Cho Yang-ho, at a ceremony held at the site on Feb. 15, said he is proud of the project to rebuild the age-old landmark American hotel in Los Angeles where many dignitaries stayed and movie starts held celebrative events in the old days and he would like to thank the L.A. City Hall for exempting the new hotel from taxes so that it can get back to its old glory days. Cho then shook hands with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was on hand to congratulate Chairman Cho for his bold decision to invest over $1 billion to rebuild the old famous hotel.
“Los Angeles is back on the move, we’re not just riding the wave of the end of this recession,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “We are a power behind it, and Los Angeles will lead not only this city, but this state and this country, out of this recession, providing jobs for folks and rebuilding L.A.”
Korean Air is developing the project with an investment of approximately $1 billion. Chairman Cho Yang-ho was presented with a resolution for his dedication to Los Angeles before the concrete pour began. Garcetti also emphasized how partnerships with countries around the world are beneficial to the city.
Also on hand to celebrate the event was President Chris Martin of A.C. Martin Partners, the designer of the new landmark structure, being built with a strong concrete foundation with 42,930 tons of ready-made concrete mix delivered by 2,120 remicon trucks poured continuously into the site, setting a record. The Guinness Book will list the record as the largest quantity of ready-made mixed concrete poured into a construction site continuously for two days.
Hanjin officials said, “We have decided to pour the cement to build the foundation of the building on a continuous basis as it will make the foundation stronger. The first 20 floors will have restaurants and shopping malls, and the next 20 floors will be occupied with offices and convention halls, and the rest of the floors with hotel rooms.” Hanjin Group bought the old Wilshire Hotel back in 1989 and plans to complete the reconstruction of the new hotel in 2017.
During construction, some 11,000 jobs will be created with $80 million worth of tax reductions from City Hall. When the new luxury hotel is opened in 2017, it will provide 1,700 jobs and tax savings of more than $16 million per year, the officials said
Korean Air flew chartered flights to Sochi, Russia, the site of the Winter Olympics, for Korean athletes participating in the global sports extravaganza, totaling three flights back and forth from Seoul to Sochi, the airline said recently.
The year 2014 is likely to be a special year for Korean Air in its international flight operations because starting Feb. 1, the Russian government decided to exempt Korean travelers to Russia from the visa requirement and thus will help increase the number of passengers on its flights between Korea and Russia.
The national flag carrier transported a total of 208,568 passengers on its flights to Russia last year, up from 199,307 passengers the year before, the airline said.
Korean Air began its flights to Russia in 1990, launching its maiden flight on the Seoul-Moscow route in March of that year, opening the sky way to Russia for the first time. In 1994 the airline launched its Seoul-Vladivostok route, and added St. Petersburg to its destinations in 2004. In 2010 the airline added flights to Irkutsk, and currently the air carrier launches 14 weekly flights to Russian cities: five to Moscow, seven to Vladivostok, and two to St. Petersburg.
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