LOS ANGELES—It's official: InterContinentalwill be the hotel operator at KoreanAir's $1.1 billion Wilshire Granddevelopment in Downtown Los Angeles. The highly anticipated newscame yesterday when the Wilshire Grand team signed the finalcontract with the luxury hotel operator at a press conference. Thehotel will open in early 2017.

The InterContinental hotel will occupy the majority of the73-story, 1,100-foot tower, which will become the largest buildingon the West Coast once complete. Additionally, the 900-room hotelwill be the largest InterContinental hotel in the Americas, and thefirst InterContinental hotel brand in Downtown Los Angeles in 15years.

As announced earlier, guests will enter the hotel througha sky lobby, accessed after a 40- to 50-second elevator ride. Thelobby will be located on the 70^th floor of the building.The hotel guestrooms will be located on floors 31 through 69. Office and retail space willoccupy the remainder of the building, as well as a restaurant,which will be located on one of the top floors.