The Los Angeles Convention Center may be closed due to COVID-19, but construction continues to progress for a large hotel development across the street. 

A tower crane now stands at the corner of Figueroa Street and Pico Boulevard, where New York-based developer Lightstone Group broke ground earlier this year on a dual-branded hotel tower.  The 42-story building now under construction will contain 820 guest rooms split between the Marriott brands Moxy and AC Hotels.

A second phase of the development - which is known Fig + Pico - is slated to replace an adjoining parking lot at Pico and Flower Street.  Plans call for a 25-story building containing 300 hotel rooms, with reports indicating that the tower will be branded as a Hilton Garden Inn.

The Gensler-designed development is depicted in renderings as two glass-clad towers rising above podiums wrapped with digital signage - similar to the neighboring Circa apartment towers and the stalled Oceanwide Plaza complex.

Completion of the tower is expected in 2022, according to environmental studies conducted for the project.

Lighstone's project has benefited from a financial incentive packaged approved by the Los Angeles City Council which will allow the developer to retain more than $100 million in tax revenue over the first 25 years of operations at the property.  Numerous developers with hotel projects near the Convention Center have sought similar incentive deals.

The City of Los Angeles has also partnered with L.A. Live owner AEG on a proposed expansion of the Convention Center and the neighboring J.W. Marriott hotel complex.