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If there’s one we’ve learned from the new LAPD Headquarters replacement project underway in the Civic Center, steel frame construction buildings assemble easier than erecter sets.

Since early last month when most of the work was still deep in the pit, the metal framework for Downtown’s new mega tower at LA Live (part of Phase III) has already risen above street level on Olympic Boulevard. From this point forward, construction watch for the 54-story convention center hotel will become a sport for many of us.

Christopher Keough, communications manager for Gensler (the project’s architect) explains, “The steel is going up a little faster than a floor a week. Each floor is 340 tons of steel. By the end of the year, all 54 stories (18,360 tons) should be up.”

When completed in late 2010, it will contain a Marriott Marquis Hotel, a Ritz-Carlton Hotel and private luxury residences on the upper floors.

In other LA Live progress news, the Club Nokia center shaping up at the corner of Figueroa and Olympic is now getting its shiny metallic cladding. Herbalife, a Grammy Museum, The Conga Room, a bowling alley and several big-name restaurants will call the structure home when it opens later this year.

-grammys bring downtown into the spotlight
-a peek inside the convention center hotel pit (January 1, 2008)

-LA Live Hotel Rendering
-LA Live Phase II Construction Photos