Back to News

May 31, 2023 CSI Electrical Contractors, Inc. Adds Modular Experience to Already Diverse Capabilities

Success with citizenM Los Angeles Downtown Hotel Project Opens Doors

There’s a unique hotel now serving downtown Los Angeles, and CSI Electrical Contractors, Inc. (CSI) helped make the project a success. It’s a citizenM hotel, which was executed using modular methods of design and construction.

citizenM Los Angeles Downtown. Image: citizenM / Richard Powers Photography

Modular design and construction is a process that involves building identical units or modules of the structure entirely off-site. Once built, they are delivered to the construction site to be stacked and connected together.

The CSI team provided design-build electrical construction services for citizenM’s Los Angeles Downtown hotel – which holds the distinction of being the tallest modular building in the city.

Working with M.A. Mortenson Company and project owner citizenM, CSI brought extensive commercial project experience, an understanding of state and city construction including environmental standards to this downtown hotel project, while also gaining valuable modular engineering and construction experience at a time when modular construction is gaining popularity.

Working closely with the overseas modular manufacturer, CSI provided design and installation engineering that would convert the installations, especially the proprietary lighting lines, to meet state and city construction standards, codes, and environmental standards.

“Modular construction is a rapidly growing market, and we are grateful for the unique experience the citizenM Los Angeles Downtown Hotel project provided us.”

CSI Project Executive Derek Rivas

This upfront collaboration was essential to ensuring all the modules for the 11-story structure would be built correctly before being shipped to California.

Once on-site work began and modules were stacked together by crane – similar to building with Legos – CSI was responsible for the installation of a new Los Angeles Department of Water and Power utility service feed, electrical distribution tying the junction boxes of the modules into building systems as the building took shape, lighting outside the prefabricated modules, and fire alarm system installation.

By embracing modular design and construction, the real estate developer and hotel operator, citizenM, is bringing innovation to hotel construction in cities worldwide. Based in the Netherlands, citizenM was the first and only hotelier to use entirely prefabricated rooms to construct its hotels. The hotelier was also named California and Northwest “Owner of the Year” by Engineering-News Record in 2022. Having rooms prefabricated, shipped, and then stacked can offer several advantages, including lower costs and shorter construction time. 

“Modular construction is a rapidly growing market, and we are grateful for the unique experience the citizenM Los Angeles Downtown Hotel project provided us,” said CSI Project Executive Derek Rivas.

CSI’s successful execution of this project in 2021 opened the door to additional work with Mortenson for citizenM. They are now collaborating to develop the Menlo Park, Calif. hotel – a five-story modular hotel with 240 rooms.

All images: citizenM / Richard Powers Photography

Project Details: CitizenM Los Angeles Downtown Hotel