A tower crane is now in place at the corner of 4th and Spring Streets in Downtown Los Angeles, signaling the start of vertical construction at a new citizenM hotel.

The citizenM Los Angeles Downtown, which the Dutch hotel chain is developing in partnership with BLVD Hospitality, replaced a surface parking lot at the northwest corner of the intersection.  The finished product will consist of an 11-story structure containing 315 guest rooms.

Designed by Gensler, the hotel will stand approximately 130 feet in height - a similar scale to nearby historic structures lining Broadway and Spring Street.

The hotel, which will be built using prefabricated modular units, is on pace to open in the second half of 2020.

Amsterdam-based citizenM is in the process of developing additional hotels across the United States, part of its international expansion.  The Downtown Los Angeles hotel will be the first of two in Los Angeles - the company is currently pursuing entitlements for a 14-story, 216-room hotel in Hollywood.

The project also joins two other hotels currently in development at 4th and Spring.  A 1920s parking garage across the street from Spring Street Park is now being transformed into a 180-room Cambria Hotel, and the historic Continental Building is slated to be converted from lofts into a 140-room inn.