Last year, California opened 10,793 hotel rooms, a record for the state according to Atlas Hospitality Group. California has 859 hotels and 125,749 rooms in various stages of planning. In Los Angeles alone, where 4,309 hotel rooms opened last year, there are another 5,327 rooms under construction.
Those projects include Soho Warehouse, a major renovation, designed by Killefer Flammang Architects, of a six-story 100-year building in L.A.’s Arts District; and the boutique Hoxton Hotel, a $30 million renovation, designed by GREC Architects, of a 10-story building along the city’s downtown Broadway corridor that dates back to 1925.
Shawmut Design and Construction is handling the construction management for both of these hotels. The growth of Los Angeles’ hospitality sector has become a driving force behind the expansion of Shawmut’s L.A. office, designed by Gensler, which recently added 2,400 sf and is now 15,000 sf.
Shawmut has been doing business in L.A. since 1995, and moved into its first office, on Wilshire Boulevard, in February 2013. It relocated to its current office, west side of the city, in February 2016. Over the past three years, revenue generated by Shawmut’s L.A. office increased by 61%, and its staff by 92% to its current level of 123 employees.
“Originally, we set up an office here to serve our existing clients that were expanding,” says Vincent Spataro, an 11-year Shawmut veteran who moved to L.A. in 2014 to help grow this office as its director. “As time went on, we’ve hired local staff and developed a local client base.”
Shawmut positions its services in California as being selective about the projects it takes on. “We aren’t the lowest-priced bidder here, so we focus more on the higher end.” Its work in the restaurant and retail sectors, for example, includes Nobu Malibu and Louis Vuitton’s Rodeo Drive flagship.
Eighteen months ago, the office launched a Luxury Homes division, an offshoot of residential construction it had been doing as a service for its commercial clients. “It’s a meaningful move for us,” Les Hiscoe, Shawmut’s CEO, told the Beverly Hills Courier. Spataro says this division manages the construction of one-off houses whose costs range from $1,000 to $2,000 per sf. “These are on another scale, and often have commercial-type systems” that Shawmut’s experience can serve, he explains.
More recently, Shawmut launched a national Interiors division, which Spataro says will bring to office design what the firm has brought to retail and restaurants.
Spataro says the future growth of his office will most likely come from hospitality and interiors. Shawmut L.A. is also looking to expand the typologies it handles to include institutional and academic projects, which have been robust areas for the firm’s New England office.
Related Stories
Contractors | Sep 12, 2023
The average U.S. contractor has 9.2 months worth of construction work in the pipeline, as of August 2023
Associated Builders and Contractors' Construction Backlog Indicator declined to 9.2 months in August, down 0.1 month, according to an ABC member survey conducted from Aug. 21 to Sept. 6. The reading is 0.5 months above the August 2022 level.
Resiliency | Sep 11, 2023
FEMA names first communities for targeted assistance on hazards resilience
FEMA recently unveiled the initial designation of 483 census tracts that will be eligible for increased federal support to boost resilience to natural hazards and extreme weather. The action was the result of bipartisan legislation, the Community Disaster Resilience Zones Act of 2022. The law aims to help localities most at risk from the impacts of climate change to build resilience to natural hazards.
Metals | Sep 11, 2023
Best practices guide for air leakage testing for metal building systems released
The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) released a new guidebook, Metal Building Systems - Best Practices to Comply with Whole-Building Air Leakage Testing Requirements.
Contractors | Sep 11, 2023
Construction industry skills shortage is contributing to project delays
Relatively few candidates looking for work in the construction industry have the necessary skills to do the job well, according to a survey of construction industry managers by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and Autodesk.
MFPRO+ Research | Sep 11, 2023
Conversions of multifamily dwellings to ‘mansions’ leading to dwindling affordable stock
Small multifamily homes have historically provided inexpensive housing for renters and buyers, but developers have converted many of them in recent decades into larger, single-family units. This has worsened the affordable housing crisis, say researchers.
Engineers | Sep 8, 2023
Secrets of a structural engineer
Walter P Moore's Scott Martin, PE, LEED AP, DBIA, offers tips and takeaways for young—and veteran—structural engineers in the AEC industry.
Giants 400 | Sep 5, 2023
Top 80 Construction Management Firms for 2023
Alfa Tech, CBRE Group, Skyline Construction, Hill International, and JLL top the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 5, 2023
Top 150 Contractors for 2023
Turner Construction, STO Building Group, DPR Construction, Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., and Clark Group head the ranking of the nation's largest general contractors, CM at risk firms, and design-builders for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
K-12 Schools | Sep 5, 2023
CHPS launches program to develop best practices for K-12 school modernizations
The non-profit Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) recently launched an effort to develop industry-backed best practices for school modernization projects. The Minor Renovations Program aims to fill a void of guiding criteria for school districts to use to ensure improvements meet a high-performance threshold.
Market Data | Sep 5, 2023
Nonresidential construction spending increased 0.1% in July 2023
National nonresidential construction spending grew 0.1% in July, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.08 trillion and is up 16.5% year over year.