The West Coast's tallest building, the Wilshire Grand, opens in LA

Leanne Suter Image
Saturday, June 24, 2017
The towering Wilshire Grand opens in downtown LA
The towering Wilshire Grand opens in downtown LAThe ribbon was cut Friday on the tallest building west of the Mississippi - the Wilshire Grand.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The ribbon was cut Friday on the tallest building west of the Mississippi - the Wilshire Grand.

The downtown LA building is 73 stories of glass windows and stretches some 1,110 feet in the air.

Its spire makes it just a bit taller than the nearby U.S. Bank tower.

The $1.2 billion project was the vision of Korean Air's founder, Yang Ho Cho, who fell in love with Los Angeles when he attended the University of Southern California.

The ribbon was cut Friday on the tallest building west of the Mississippi - the Wilshire Grand.

"We promised you a world-class project and we delivered," Cho said.

The building also features a giant LED screen at its top and the ability to run a light show up and down its length.

That light show was on display for the first time Friday night. Though it was a foggy evening, the lights were seen dancing up and down the building's 73 floors, in a variety of colors and configurations.

The tower has 889 hotel rooms, 400,000 square feet of office space, a swanky bar on the top floor and a rooftop pool.

More than 11,000 workers helped to build the tower.

The Wilshire Grand in downtown L.A. is opening its doors on Friday, and Eyewitness News got a sneak peek inside before the ribbon cutting.
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