Ebbie Nakhjavani founded EKN Development Group in 2014 based on his passion for real estate and civil engineering. While the company is involved in a mix of retail, mixed-use and high-density residential development, it’s largely considered a hospitality-anchored firm and the majority of its developments are new hotels. 

Echo Hotel and Residences, which is a working name, will be a 12-story, 192-room hotel located on the edge of Echo Park with close proximity to Disney Concert Hall, LA Live, the Broad and Dodger Stadium. 

The hotel, which will be constructed in a modular fashion, will also feature 12 residence units for sale. It is currently in the entitlement phase of development and is scheduled to begin construction in October of next year and open in the spring of 2026. EKN, which is based in Newport Beach, is currently developing six projects and has more than $1.2 billion worth of projects in development. 

What made you interested in developing in Echo Park?

When we looked at Echo Park, all of the things that are in the DNA of Echo Park really appealed to us. It is a very diverse community. Other than the famous Echo Park Lake, all the art, the appreciation for music and the appreciation for life are what really attracted us to build a hotel in Echo Park. And the proximity to downtown L.A. We do a lot of art-centric hotels in special communities and Echo Park really fit that description. 

In what ways is modular construction, which you are using on this project, beneficial?

One of the biggest advantages, in my opinion, of modular construction is its environmental benefits in the way that you confine a lot of the work inside a building that is air controlled. The other component is the time to completion, because once those units arrive, they’re stacked on top of each other in a very orderly manner and in a very quick manner. It’s a very short time to completion. And there’s a significant (cost) reduction in transporting construction materials.

Has EKN run into any challenges in developing the Echo Hotel so far?

I think probably on this particular project, unfortunately, Covid really hit the hardest because of the phase of the project it was in. We had other projects that kept moving forward, but this one was at a phase where Covid caused a lot of delays. We were at the stage where there was a lot of coordination required with governmental agencies and they were typically either not taking meetings or they were closed. We had challenges in terms of setting up meetings, not only with the government agencies, but also with our own consultants. Everything was taking a lot longer to get through the preliminary phase.

Have you received any community feedback so far?

Absolutely. We’ve actually held two community meetings. They were during Covid, so they were held over Zoom. We answered some questions, but so far, we’ve received only support from everybody in the community. 

What is next for EKN Development?

I think we’ve kind of diversified from just doing urban-centric into doing some destination projects. We’re working on Lake Tahoe, Grand Canyon and hopefully one more, soon to be announced, in a national park.