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The Wilshire Grand Hotel, at the corner of Wilshire and Figueroa, is closing its doors, and will be torn down and replaced by two new skyscrapers. The hotel first opened in 1952 as the Hotel Statler, and had been at the time of its planning, the recipient of the largest single building permit the city had ever issued, at $15 million.Nearly 60 years later, on the same property, a new 45-story hotel will go up, alongside "the tallest office building west of the Mississippi,” according to hotel spokesman Marc Loge, who spoke with a reporter for KNX.
During its six decades of business, the hotel has hosted many high-profile events, including the "1952 Emmy® Awards soon after its opening to being the headquarters hotel for the 2000 Democratic National Convention and the 2006 Miss Universe Pageant® in this past decade," explains the hotel.
The Wilshire Grand has also operated as the Statler Hilton and the Omni Los Angeles.
Closing the hotel means hundreds of employees losing their jobs when the doors close for good on December 31.
The new hotel is expected to open in 2015.
